


r-^Ofcuri 









^cc^^ 



ife^^ 









^. 






*-# 



^ifi 



^fi^ 






W^Wi 



«i 



-*;i 



*/•■? 



Kr 









-;*?7^ 















fi:(€^[:y 



'^^3^1 






:.^^,:-1^^c-^;^ 






'^^^PSr-'-'V!*^^^ 






^w'^^/-U :ww. 









;-,*^.u-' -^vvr Mi^Wi^ 




VI i 






^CXtniis ityn t 



A 



^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 



ms\ 



yv:^ 



r 



'. 4\i- 






■■?: .-p^ 



'T 



'^v^. 



■ ^. - 



<J. 



"mr. 



V-3S«,^k- 










;.^^^Vrf, 



,-,'<* ■ V . VS\ 



^gv-y^:,: 



^^>iV^H 









^"i^^^^^is: 









V^'-^v'^w',^-",^^ w^ w ■ 












.c^ ^ ^ ^ 






^^^^ 



THE GRA^T CAMPAIGN SONGSTER, {ni,fS?.!f/7'n^:j^ef:^^'} PRICE TEIV CENTS. 



XKS- Every American should read t|iis Life of General Grant, -ffiff 



IPI^IOE 25 <Z?EIsrTS. 



THE LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS 



OP 



GEN. U.S. GRANT 




BY GEN. JAMES G. WILSON 



Every Soldier should read this Life of General Grant, -or 



R M nP WITT P. 



,^. IQ Cnl^fnrt QtmPt M. Y. 



STANDARD NOVELS. 

By FEEDERICK W. EOBINSON. 



AETigi: jubi|]s^e;, spinster. 



" At last wo huve an absnlnti'lj' new theme for a novel — 
Mr. liobiusiin li;is cut ailrilt li'cuii all the stole, hackuied 
plots and characters charaeterlstic of most of the litera- 
ture of the daj'. Anne Judge, the heroine, is perhaps tho 
most original, as well as loveable character of cotemporary 
fiction ; and how finely is she contrasted with her proud, 
feeble, sensitive old father. The mysteries of the dismal 
Aynard's Roost, are matchlessly described. Take it alto- 



gether, it bears away the palm of eicellonco as a modal 
novel. " — Alhenceum. 

"There may be faults in this book, but we have not dis- 
covered them. It is, to our view, jierfect alike in plot, 
character and stj'le. In truth, we had read tho book quite 
through — carried onward by the rushing current of in- 
tense interest, before we remembsred that we wer« in 
search of faults." — British Review. 



GRAI^DMOTHXZR^S MOnSY. 



"For once critics and readers are in accord: all seem to 
tmito ia singing the praises of the able author of this 
charming book. We have carefully followed Mr. Robin- 
son's literary career, from the early budding of his genius 
till now that it blooms a consummate flower — Athenaum. 



"Our j-oung writers might learn wisdom from the con- 
struction of this pojjular book — for it is already popular — 
never does its author 'overstep tho modesty of nature,' 
and yet how the interest grows and culminates in every 
page." — Literary Gazette. 



OME AWD TI^ITEWTY. 



" The title suggests perhaps, the most impiortant era in 
man's life, and admirably has the author availed himself 
of the chance to write one of the best books of its kind wo 
have ever road. He portrays actual life with all tho strong 
lines and vivid coloring of Dickens, and in some points 
even surpasses that author." — Athenceum. 



"There is no vague shadowiness about Eobinson's char- 
acters^wc meet, and talk, and quarrel, and make-up with 
such people all our lives. But how skilfully they all tend 
to make a perfect story. A story that enthrals the atten- 
tion from first to list. The warp and the woof are most 
skilfully woven." — Bdinburg Miscellany. 



THE HOUSE OF EI^MORE. 



" "Without any of the overstrained and fantastic horrors 
of the Monk Lewis and Mrs. Kadclifl'e school, this book 
far exceeds them in real wierdness and heart-chilling hor- 
ror. A sombre cloud, that seldom shows its silver lining, 
hangs pall-like over scenes enacted in these sadly interes- 
ting pages, and holds tho reader spell-bound beneath its 
dusky folds." — Literary Gazette. 



"The author of Tho House of Elmore possesses the 
same potent power as tho fascinating gaze of the Ancient 
Mariner, and compels one, will ho nil he, to follow his 
strange story from tho Alpha to the Omega of its startling 
incidents. Mr. Kobiuson's previous works had ijrepared 
us to exdcct much, but, in this case, exi^ectation falls far 
short of reality." — London Dispatch. 



SIATEET l^INETEEN. 



"Not absolutely faultless — ^but with so few flaws, that 
we may almost style this book 'one pure and perfect 
chrysolite.' Tho heroine is one of the most lovely 
characters that tho pages of fiction has ever developed ; 
while the hero ia every way worthy of her. Not an un- 



likely incident — not an over drawn character is to be 
found in these pages — yet are they more full of true inter- 
est, than any of the sickly ' sensation' novels of the day, 
and wi'.X bo found in popular demand long after the trashy 
novels have paled their inffectual fires." — Literary News. 



WriLBFLOlT^ER. 



\\\ "This 'Wildflowcr' exceeds in beauty and agreeable 

fragrance, any of the most vaunted exotics the season has 
produced ; and well does it deserve the showers of lauda- 
tory notices which it has received." — London Review. 



"We shall always stand ready to greet the author that 
presents us with such a book as this. It is many a day 
since we cut open leaves so eagerly, and closed them so 
reluctantly." — Weekly Standard. 



je^ Copies of the above Soohs sent to any address in the United States and Canadas, free of 
postage. Send cash orders to 

ROBERT M. DE WITT, Publisher, 

13 IT-rankfort Street, N . TT. 



THE 



/^ LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS 



OF 



ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT, 

Generax-in-Chief of the United States Army. 



COHFBISIKO A 



A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS 

SOLDIER FROM HIS EARLIEST BOYHOOD 

TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



JAMES GRANT WILSON. 

II 



*'UiIitar7 Oenixis is the highest order of Genius." 

Sib Walteb Scott. 



NEW YORK: 

ROBERT M. DE WITT, PUBLISHER, 

No. 13 Fkakkfort Street. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1868, by ROBERT M. DE WITT, in the Clerk'i 
Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New Torlt, 



e^t: 



GENEEAL GEAJSTT'S BECOED. 



Ulysses Simpson Grant, born at Mount Pleasant, Clormont county, Ohio, April 27, 1822. ' 

The family removed to G>^orselown, Brown county, Ohio, in 182o. 

Appointed a cadet at Wes-t Point, by Hon. T. L. Harmer, in 1839. 

Graduated June 30, 1843, number twenty-one in a class of thirty-nine. 

Entered on tlie army rolls as brevet second lieutenant, and assigned to the Fourth United 

States Infantry. 
Commissioned Sept. 30, 1845, second lieutenant. 
Accompanied Taylor's army to Mexico, and took part in all the actions from Palo Alto to 

Monterey. 
Transferred to Scott's army, taking part in the seige of Vera Cruz. 
Assigned as quartermaster of his regiment April, 1847. 
In the battle of Molino del Rey, Sept 8, 1847, and promoted on the field. 
Battle of ChapulLei)ec, Sept. 13, 1847, officially mentioned for gallantry by General Worth. 
Entered the city ot Mexico with Scott's army. 
Sent to Oregon, and assigned to duty at Fort Dallas. 
Appointed brevet captain, 1850, for services at Chapultepec. 
Commissioned ca[)tain August, 1853. 
Resigned July, 1855, and spent several years ia farming and in business at St. Louis, 

Missouri. 
Removed to Galena, III., in 1860, and was employed there in the leather house of Grant & Son, 

at $800 per annum, vviien the war beg:ui. 
Appointed mustering officer by Governor Yates, of Illinois, April, 1861. 
Commissioned colonel of the Twentj'-lirst Illinois Infantry, June 15, 1861. 
Appointed brigadier-general, August, 1861 (his commission dating back to May 1), and 

placed in command of the District of Cairo. 
Occupied Paducah, Kentucky, by a surprise movement, Sept. 6, 1861. 
Fought the battle of Belmont, Nov. 7, 1861. 

Moved up the Tennessee, and with Foote's iron-clads, captured Fort Henry, Feb. 6, 1862. 
Invested Fort Donelson, and ca])tured it by " unconditional surrender," Feb. 16, 1862. 
Promoted to be major-general of volunteers, commission dating from the capture of Fort 

Donelson. 
Advance against Corinth, March, 1862. 
Bloody battle of Shiloii, A])ril 6th and 7th, 1862. 
Appointed commander of the Department of Tennessee in July, 1862. 
Began the campaign against Vicksburg ; battles of luka, Corinth, and the Hatchie, Sept., 

1862. 
Captures Vicksburg, July 4, 1863. 
Appointed major-general in the regular army for his successes in the campaign against 

Vicksburg. 
Severely injured by being thrown from his horse while returning from a review with Gen. 

Wilson at New Orleans, Sept. 5, 1863. 
Appointed to command of the military division of the Mississippi, October. 1863. 
Battles of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, November 24th and 25th, 1863. 
Appointed and confirmed lieutenant-general of the army, March 2, 1864. 
Arrived at Washington, and received bis commission from President Lincoln, March 8th 

and 9th. 
Assumed command of all the Union armies, headquarters in the field, March 12, 1864. 
Crossed the Rapidan, May 4, 1864. 
Battles of the Wilderness, May 5ih, 6th, and 7th. May 11th : " I shall fight it out on this 

line if it takes all summer." 
Crossed the James river and ])laced Richmond and P.^tersburg under seige, June 14, 1864. 
Began the final campaign of the war March 25, 1865. 
Battle of Five Forks, March 81 and April 1; occupies Richmond April 2d; surrender of 

Lee's army Ai)ril 9th, and substantial close of the war. 
Appointed general of tlie armies of the United States, July 25, 1866. 
Nominated for the Presidency by the Republican Convention at Chicago, May 21, 1868. 
To which we may add, will be elected President of the United States, November 4, 1868. 



TO THE MEMORY 

OF THK 

GALLAISTT SOLDIEES 

WHO FELL DUEINQ THE LATE CAMPAIGNS, 

AND 

TO THE SURVIVORS OF THE WAR, 

THIS STORY OF THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF OUR ILLUSTRIOUS LEADER, 

IS DEDICATED 

BY THEIR FORMER COMPANION-IN-ARMS, 

THE AUTHOR. 



As Moses stood upon the flaming hill, 

With all the people gathered at his feet, 
Waiting on Sinai's valley there to meet 
The awful bearer of Jehovah's will — 
So Grant there stand' st amidst the trumpets shriU, 
And the wild fiery storms that flash and beat 
In iron thunder and in leaden sleet. 
Topmost of all, and most exposed to ill, 
O stand thou firm, great leader of our race, 

Hope of our future, till the times grow bland, 
And into ashes drops war's dying brand ; 
Then let us see thee, with benignant grace 
Descend the height, God's glory on thy face, 

And the law's tables safe within thy hand ! 

George H. Bokee. 



CONTEjSTTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
grant's early days. 

General Grant's Ancestors-His birth— His boyhood— Anecdotes -President Lincoln's story-Limited 
education-Appointment to the MiUtary Academy-His scholarship-Classmates-RecoUections of him 
while a Cadet-He graduates-Enters the army-Serves in Mexico-At Palo Alto and Resaca dela^alma- 
At Montesey-From Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico-Mentioned in the report, and brevetted CapUin- 
Anecdotes of Grant ., 

CHAPTER II. 

BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

Returns to the United States -Marries Miss Dent— Off to Oregon— Promoted to a Captaincy— Resits 
—Becomes a farmer-Hark work— Leather dealer— Residence in Galena— Commencement of the ^Var- 
Grant drills a Company-Takes it to Springfield— Organizes volunteer troops-Appointed Colonel of the 
Twenty-first Illinois Infantry— Governor Yates of Illinois— Marches regiment to Missouri— Chaplain's 
description of Grant — Becomes Brigadier-General of volunteers— Assumes command at Cam)— Seizes Pa- 
ducah— Battle of Belmont— Its results— Anecdotes of Generals Grant and Polk 17 

CHAPTER III. 

FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON. 

Change of the Department Commanders— Halleck succeeds Fremont— Grant's command enlarged— The 
n>bel line— Columbus— Bowling Green— Fort Henry— Fort Donelson— Gunboats at the West— Demonstra- 
tion in favor of Buell— Grant visits St. Louis — Urges the capture of Fort Henry— Receives permission— At- 
tack—Its surrender- General Tilghman's report— Grant's magnanimity— Movement on Fort lionelson- 
Description of the work- Assault upon the trenches— Unsuccessful — Snow storm and cold weather — Unsuc- 
cessful attack by the fleet— Assault— Correspondence — Surrender — Grant promoted— Political tribute.... 21 

CHAPTER IV. 

BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

Results of the capture of Fort Donelson — Nashville falls— Columbus and BowUng Green evacuated — 
Grant and Sherman — Grant goes to Nashville — Is relieved from command — Pittsburg Landing — Grant re- 
instated — Headquarters at Savannah — Concentration of troops at Pittsburg Landing — Dpscription of the 
rebel forces — Disposition of Grant's army — The battle-field — The attack— The situation — Troops fighting, 
Union army forced back — Close of the day's fighting — Both armies — Nelson's and Wallace's division on the 
field — More troops reach Pittsburg— Monday's battle — Rebels defeated — They retreat to Corinth— Incident 
— Grant defamed— Defended in an eloquent speech — The old Sergeant of Shiloh 31 

CHAPTER V. 

SIEGE OF CORINTH. 

Halleck assumes command— Grant under a cloud— Extracts from the letters, written by the author at 
Shiloh— Advance of the Union army— Capture of Farinington— Siege of Corinth— Its evacuation— In- 
effectual pursuit of the enemy— Buell ordered to Chattanooga, Pope to Virginia, Gnint to Memphis— Hal- 
leck made General-in-Chief —Offers command of the Army of the Tennessee to a Colonel— He declines- 
Memphis a hot-bed of treason— Aiding the rebels— Stringent and statesmanlike orders issued by Grant- 
Guerrillas— Smugglers— Negroes employed— Quiet retreat— A sad incident ■W 



12 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



He married in June, 1820, Miss Hannah Simp- 
son, a member of a Scotch family, a native of 
Pennsylvania, and a woman of great excellence 
and Christian character. As is not uncommon 
in the biographies of great men, we find many 
of the mother's characteristics reproduced 
and intensified in her illustrious son. 

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born at Mount 
Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, April 27th, 
1822, in a humble dwelling still standing 
— a small one-story cottage, worth before 
the war, a few hundred dollars ; but every 
victory gained by the General added, in the 
owner's estimate, another hundred to its value. 

Among the many anecdotes of his child- 
hood, his father relates that when he was but 
two years of age, he took him through the 
village on a Fourth of July, and a friend de- 
siring to try the effects of a pistol upon the 
child, ilr. Grant consented. His little hand 
was accordingly put on the lock and pressed 
there quietly until the pistol was discharged 
with a loud report. The little fellow exhib- 
ited no alarm, but pushing the pistol away, 
asked in his childish way, that it should be 
again fixed for him to fire. The ruling pas- 
sion of Ulysses from the time when he could 
walk and talk, was for horses, and when only 
eight years old " he could ride anything that 
went on four legs " Two years later he was 
entrusted with the chavge of a pair of horses, 
which he drove forty miles to Cincinnati, and 
brought back a load of passengers. 

Of his boyhood, many stories illustrating the 
truth of Wordsworth's line, that ' the child is 
father of the man," have been told by his 
biographers, and in the recently published let- 
ters of his father ; but the best of all — the one 
illustrating to the greatest advantage, his 
leading characteristic — is a story which we 
heard from the lips of President Lincoln but 
a few weeks before his untimely death. The 
subject of our conversation was the war. 
" Well," said Mr. Lincoln, ' when Grant start- 
ed for Richmond last spring, and said he was 
going ' to fight it out on that line if it took 
all summer,' I made up my mind that like 
the old coon which Captain Bcott aimed at, 
Lee would have to come down." He then 
added, turning to me and laughing : " Colonel, 
did you ever hear the story of Giant at the 
circus 1 " " No, sir.'» " Well, I think," said 
the President, " that's the best thing I ever 
heard about him. It seems when he was ten 
or twelve years old, a circus company came 



along, and ' Lys,' as the boys called him, went. 
Whether he got a quarter out of the old tan- 
ner and paid his twenty- five cents — and I 
rather guess he didn't — or crawled in under 
the canvas as I did when a youngster, I don't 
know for certain. Well, they had a pony or 
mule in that circus trained so that nobody 
could ride him without being thrown, although 
a dollar was offered — and that was a big sum 
of money out West in those times — to any one 
who should ' hang on' while he went round 
the ring a few times. Several tried, but they 
were all shaken off. The audience thought 
that that fun was over, when in stepped 'Lys,' 
took off his cap and coat and said, ' I'll try 
him.' He got on and hung on, until almost 
around the ring three times, when he slid off 
over the animal's head like all the others. 
Not in the least disheartened, he jumped up, 
and as soon as he got the tan-bark out of his 
eyes and mouth he said, ' I sliould like to try 
that mule again,' and amid the cheers of the 
spectators away they went. But this time 
' Lys ' faced to the rear, coiled his legs round 
the critter's body, and held on by the tail. 
The mule tried in vain, with head down, and 
then by standing on his hind legs, to shake 
him off as he had done before, but it want of i 
no sort of use ; there Grant stuck like grim 
death, and came off victorious. Just so he'll 
stick to Richmond. As Mrs. Grant says, ' he's 
a very obstinate man.' " 

Another good anecdote, illustrating the de- 
termined " grit" of the boy, as well as a fac- 
ulty of adaptation to circumstances, is related 
by the General's father. He had a contract 
to build the Brown county jail, in 1834, in the 
construction of which he re(iuired a number 
of logs some fourteen feet in length ; and 
Ulysses, then in his twelflli year, volunteered 
to drive the team of horses until the logs 
were all hauled. A hired man was sent with 
him, but after a few days' trial, the man re- 
ported that there was no use in his watching 
the boy or the team, for the lad could man- 
age the horses as well, if not better, than he 
could. A few days passed, and Mr. Grant 
accidentally discovered that Ulysses loaded 
the logs into the wagon by himself. Surprised 
and incredulous, he inquired into the process 
of the apparently impossible feat, and his son | 
quietly and in a matter-of-fact way explained 
that, taking advantage of a large sugar-tree, I 
which had been cut down, so that it lay as- 
lant, one end resting on the ground and the . 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OP GENERAL GRANT. 



13 



other elevated, he had hitched a horse to the 
end of the hewn log and drawn it up on the 
sugar-tree, until the end projected far enough 
over to allow of his backing the wagon under 
it ; then, when he had hauled up three, which 
made his load, in tliis manner, he backed the 
hind part of the wagon under them, hitched 
the horse — a strong animal — in front by 
means of a long cliain extending over the 
whole length of the wagon-box, and pulled 
them over, one after anotlier, into the wagon. 
And thus he worked for several months, until 
he had drawn all the logs that were required 
in the construction of the building. 

In early life Ulysses displayed a faculty for 
business — making good bargains when he was 
but fourteen — was fond of books and learned 
rapidly- His opportunities for acquiring 
knowledge were, however, very limited. His 
father's circumstances being at that time very 
moderate, he had only the benefit of a school 
during the winter months, the summer being 
devoted to labor in the woods, in the tannery, 
or to driving his father's horses with passen- 
gers to a neighboring town. The tanning 
,work was always distasteful to the boy, and 
so, in a family council, it was decided to 
procure for him if jjossible an appointment of 
'cadet at the United Stales Military Academy. 
.The success of the application, with some in- 
teresting details, are best told in his father's 
own words. He says in a letter : 

" I immediately wrote to Mr. Morris, one of our 
Senators in Congress, from Ohio, and asked him if he 
knew of any vacancy at West Point the appointment 
to which he could coptrol. He replied promptly that 
there was a vacancy from our own Congressional dis- 
trict. This surprised me ; for I know that there had 
been an appointment to fill that vacancy a year be- 
fore. It turned out, however, that the young man 
who had been ai^pointed had failed to pass examina- 
tion. His father, who was a proud-spirited man, 
kept it a secret and did not let his son return to the 
neighborhood, but placed him at the private military 
school of Captain Partridge. After spending six 
months at that school, the young man made another 
attempt to enter "West Point ; but failed a second time 
to pass the examination. This young man failed, not 
from a want of talent, but because he did not apply 
himself to study. He entered the army as a volunteer 
after the war broke out, and perished in the war ; 
whether at the hand of the enemy, or by accident, was 
never known, his body having been found in a nver, 
into which he had fallen from a bridge. Hia mother 
became and remains a devoted friend of General 
Grant. She has always watched hia career with the 
deepest interest. 

" Our Representative in Congress at that time was 
the Hon. Thomas L. Hamer. I wrote right on to 
' him, stating that Senator Morris had informed me 



that there was a vacancy, requesting him to appoint 
Ulysses. My letter reached him on the night of thu 
3d of March ; on the next day, the 4th, lu^ term of 
office expired. He knew Ulysses, and was glad to 
have an opportunity to appoint such a boy, after the 
bad luck which had attended his previous upixjintce ; 
so he made the appointment at once. A day's delay 
in the mail that carried my letter would liave made 
some difference in the history of one miin, if not of 
the country. Ulysses was entirely unprupartd by 
any previous study, pursued with special ri.tcTcnce to 
fitting for West Point, but he got through the exam- 
ination, and was admitted. I never saw him whilo 
at West Point, except on the occasion of one visit, 
which he made to his home during the furlough at 
the end of his second year. It was said of him, that 
while he was there, he was not one wlio took (lains to 
make himself popular, but that all the boys liked 
him. I believe he went by the name of " Unclt Sum," 
on account of his initials, " U. S." A superstitious 
person might almost think there was something Pro- 
vidential about these significant initials being stuck 
on to him, for they were not given to him at hi.i christ- 
ening. When the question arose after his birth, 
what he should be called, his mother and one of hia 
aunts proposed Albert, for Albert Gallatin ; another 
aunt proposed Theodore; his grandfather proixjsed 
Hiram, because ha thought that was a handsome 
name. His grandmother— grandmother by courtesy 
—that is, his motnor's step-mother —was a kTcat stu- 
dent of history— and had an enthuaioslic iidmiration 
for the ancient commander, Ulysses ; and clie urged 
that the babe should bo named Ulysses. I secomled 
that, and he was christened Hiram Ulysses ; but ba 
was always called by the latter name, wliich he him- 
self preferred, when he got old enough to know about 
it. But Mr. Hamer, knowing Mrs. Grant's name 
was Simpson, and that we had a son named f^impson, 
somehow got the matter a little mixed in making the 
nomination, and sent the name in Uly-^si's S. (irint, 
instead of Hiram Ulysses Grant. My son tri-d in vain, 
afterwards, to get it set right by thi; autliorities; 
and I suppose he is now content with his name as it 
stands." 

In July, 1830, Grant entered the MiliUry 
Academy at West Point, where his progress 
was steady, but not brilliant. In French, 
drawing and mathematics he was a proficient, 
and he became one of the best riders in the 
institution. At the end of the course thirty- 
nine only of the class of one humlred and 
more, who had entered with him in IB.'i'.t, grad- 
uated, Grant, a good middle-man, standing 
number twenty-one in his c'ass. Exin'rience 
shows how uncertain an indication the acade- 
my rank affords of the future success and use- 
fulness of the officer. Gen. Wra. B. Franklin 
graduated number one in Grant's clas.s, and it 
was a belief, in which Grant shared, tliat Frank- 
lin would greatly distinguish himself in the 
late war. Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds, another 
of his classmates, graduated number ten ; 
Gen. Rufus Ingalls, Quartermaster-General of 



14 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the army of the Potomac ; Grant's brother-in- 
law, Gen. Dent, and the lateG n. Fred. Sleele, 
•who participated in tlie Vicksburg and Miss- 
issippi campaigns, all of the class of 1843, 
highly distinguished themselves during the 
late war. The following incident occurred 
while young Grant was serving liis first year 
at West Point, where it is the practice to play 
a joke on every new comer, but he having ta- 
ken a letter of introduction to a cadet, was 
told of this custom and placed on liis guard. 
In the course of the first night after leaving 
the encampment, and going into barracks, one 
of the cadets dressed as an officer entered the 
room where Grant and his companion were 
sleeping, and told them that one of the rules 
of the institution required that a task should 
be given to them, to see how they would get 
through with it. He then, producing a book, 
ordered that, before retiring, they should each 
commit to memory a lesson of twenty pages. 
" All right, all right " responded Ulysses ; and 
as soon as the pretended officer had with- 
drawn, he went quietly back to his bed, while 
his chum sat up and studied all night. It is 
unnecessary to add that the recitation had not 
yet been called for. Among the records of 
Grant's career at West Point, where his demer- 
its were mostly says, his father, " of a trivial 
character, such as not having his coat but- 
toned, or his shoes tied right, or something of 
that kind." Prof. Coppee, who was his com- 
rade for ten years at the Academy, writes : " I 
remember him as a plain, common-sense, 
straight-forward youth ; quiet, rather of the 
old head on young shoulders order ; shunning 
notoriety, quite contented, while others were 
grumbling; taking to his military duties in 
a very business-like manner ; not a prominent 
man in the corps, but respected by all, and 
very popular with his friends. His sobriquet 
of Uncle Sam was given to him there, while 
every good fellow has a nickname, from their 
very qualities ; indeed he was a very uncle- 
like sort of a youth. He was then and always 
an excellent horseman, and his picture rises 
before me as I write, in the old torn coat, obso- 
lescent leather gig-top, loose riding pantaloons, 
with spurs buckled over them, going with his 
clanking sabre to the drill hall. He exhibited 
but little enthusiasm in anything ; his best 
standing was in the mathematical branches, 
and their application to tactics and military 
engineering." 

From another source we have an interest- 



ing account of Grant's career at West Point, 
as well as that of Lieutenant-General Sherman. 
Prof. Mahan, of the United States Military 
Academy, wrote in 1866: 



" Now I can truly say that, not having met Oen. 
Grant from the time he graduated, in 1S-J3, until he 
visited the Academy, in June, 1805, and (jen. [Sher- 
man only twice, at long intervals, Irom his giadua- 
tion, in 1840, until the same time, I felt, when I saw 
them in this last visit, that I was in the presence of 
two remarkable men. The feeling was not simply 
that which Dr. Johnson somewhere described as what 
every person instinctively feels who enters the ijres- 
ence of an Admiral or General who has encounted 
the perils of battle, llor that which causes me in- 
stinctively to uncover when I approach either of 
those two octogenarian Kestors of our old aimy, 
Lieutenant-General Scott or General Thayer. Alas ! 
how few are left, 

Eari nantes in gurgite vasto, 
hut what all must feel who see, for the first time, 
men who have done deeds that have called forth the 
plaudits of nations, and have won for themselves the 
respect and gratitude of their country. 

" Of the student-lite of each of these men during 
their last year at the Academy I have a distinct rec- 
ollection. Brought under my supervision frequently 
in daily recitations, and for about three months three 
hours daily working under my eye, my opportunities 
for gaining an insight into their characteristics were 
passably good. Professor Coppcc describes Grant as 
a " middle-man," a phrase new to me. He was what 
we termed a first-section man in all his scientific 
studies ; that is, one who accomplishes the full course. 
He always showed himself a clear thinker and a, 
steady worker. He belonged to the class of compact- 
ly strong men who went at their task at once, and 
kept at it until finished, never being seen, like the 
slack-twisted class, yawning, lolling on their elbows 
over their work, and looking as if just ready to sink 
down from mental inanity. 

" Sherman was the reverse of this in manner. Ea- 
ger, impetuous, restless, he always worked with a 
will. Being one of those of whom Byron says • 
" ' Quiet to quick souls is a hell.' 
" If he wasn't at work he was in for mischief. If, 
while explaining something to his class at the black-' 
board, I heard any slight disturbance, denoting some 
fun, I was seldom wrong, in turning round, in hold- 
ing up my finger to Mr. Sherman. But one was more 
than repaid for any slight annoyance of this kind, by 
his irrepressible good nature, and by the clear thought 
and energy he threw into his work. 

" That he should accomplish something great, I was 
prepared to learn. But not so in Grant, whose round, 
cheery, boyish face, though marked with character 
and quiet manner, gave none of that evidence of 
what he has since shown he possesses. 
" Grant's mental machine is of the powerful low-pres- 
sure class, which condenses its own steam and con- 
sumes its own smokf ; and which pushes steadily for- 
ward and drives all obstacles before it. Sherman's 
belongs to the high-pressure class, which lets off both 
a puff and a cloud, and dashes at its work with re- 
sistless vigor, the result of a sound boiler and plenty 
of fuel. 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



i; 



" The'question is often put to me whether I look up- 
on Grant and Sherman as great men. To this there 
is but one reply. Posterity alone, when the clouds, 
raised by passion, prejudice and partisanship, shall 
have been dissipated, and truth revealed in all her 
distinctness, will be competent to pronounce upon 
this point. But, if gi-eat deeds, the results of high 
mental and moral powers, of magnanimity and gen- 
erosity towards public and private enemies are char- 
acteristics of greatness, then cannot the meed of this 
ennobling patent be withheld, in our own day, from 
either of these men. 

" In the selection of subordinates to carry out 
their plans, and in discrimination of character, the 
faculty without which no man can become a suc- 
cessful leader in anything, both have shown them- 
selves equally happy. And of that other faculty, di- 
rectness of purpose, equally essential to success, 
which keeps the mind intent on the great object be- 
fore it, and rejects all side issues, however tempting, 
that might divert it from this object, each has fur- 
nished striking examples 

" Their place in the classes of generals may per- 
haps be settled more readily now ; for their profos- 
sional acts are as fully before the public as they 
possibly ever will be. Grant will take a conspicuous 
place in history — in that one to which "William of 
Orange, Turenne, Frederick of Prussia, "Washington, 
Massena, Wellington and Scott belong. Sherman, if 
below, not far from that galaxy, brilliant with the 
scintillations of genius, in which .iVlexander, Hanni- 
bal, C«esar and Napoleon are found. 

" "Wherever placed, they will go down to all time, 
as names dear to and honored by the American heart, 
as connected with the integrity of the Republic. 

" There is but one prayer, that now, as their old in- 
structor, I would form for them, and that is, that, 
having passed through so many perils of the battle- 
field and of pestilential climate, they may also got, 
scathless, through that truly American ordeal, the 
cunningly-wrought meshes of unscrupxilous politi- 
cians. As the Spanards say, Quien sabe. 

" Let us hope, that having borne themselves so mod- 
estly and equably, under such profuse showers of 
public adulation, with the examples of the vitupera- 
tion poured upon Scott, Lincoln and Johnson imme- 
diately under their eyes, and of the grand historic 
figure of Washington looming up in the past, they 
will not require the warning of Scripture against the 
temptings of ambition in the words addressed to the 
Prophet, ' Is thy servant a dog, that he should do 
this great thing ! ' 

" Of all the incidents in the lives of these two illus- 
trious men, nothing, perhaps, was more characteristic 
of them, and none probably will be longer remem- 
bered by them with pleasure, than their visit to 
their Alma Mater at West Point, in June, 1865. 
More fortunate than mortals generally, the lines of 
Byron do not, in all, apply to them :— 

" ' Green and unfading blooms that schoolboy spot. 
Which we can ne'er forget, though we are there for- 
got,' 

" In a room in which the examination for graduation 
to which they had also been subjected, was going on, 
the faculty before whom they had passed their ordeal, 
still sitting in it, a young class of their comrades pre- 
sent, and crowded with an eager, enthusiastic assem- 



blage of ladies and many distinguished men. Grant 
first appciured, leaning ou the arm ot the supermteu- 
dent, slirinking and half dj-awmg back, as, with al- 
most feminine timidly depicted on his face, he was 
led forward, to be presented to his old professors. 
Sherman, a day or two after, pajMed through the 
same ordeal. With equal modesty, but with that self- 
assertion of manner that has become a habit with 
him, he greeted all around, and in a few momenta 
was busy turning over the specimens of the cadets' 
drawings that were placed aside on a table, comparing 
the present with the past. Happy Alvia MaUr, in 
having such sons to present to the republic. Moro 
happy that the characteristics of her flock, thus tar, 
are personal integrity and devotion to the public in- 
intcrests enstrusled to them." 

Grant began his army service in July, 1843, 
as brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth 
Infantry. The explanation of this is, liiat 
there being no vacancy in the infantry arm, 
all graduated cadets are thus attached, in the 
order of merit, to regiments as supernumary 
officers, each to await a vacancy caused by 
death or promotion. The regiment was then 
at Jefferson barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri, 
but in the summer of 1844 it was sent to 
Nachitoches, Louisiana, and as the ^lexican 
plot thickene 1 in the year following, the 
Fourth was ordered to Corpus Christ! , Texas, 
to watch the Mexican army then concen- 
trating near the Rio Grande. Grant was 
made a second lieutenant on the 30lh of Sep- 
tember, 1845, and in the spring succeeding 
shared in the glories of Palo Alto and Resaca 
de la Palma ; he also took part in the bloody 
battle of Monterey. He was now ordered to 
leave Taylor's army and join General Scott's 
command, destined to make one of the most 
glorious campaigns in American historj* — a 
campaign which elicited the highest praise 
from Wellington, and placed him among the 
great captains of the nineteenth century. Not 
the march of Alexander to the Indus ; of 
Marlborough to the Danube ; of Napoleon to 
Moscow ; or Sherman to the sea, was more 
wonderful than AVinfield Scott's triumphant 
march from Vera Cruz to the balls of the 
Montezumas with his little band of heroes. 
Following in the footprints of Cortez, he 
fought his way to the capital of a nation num- 
bering many millions of inhabitants, with a 
less number of muskets than Hancock's corps 
numbered on the morning of the battle of the 
Wilderness, and entered the city at the liead 
of six thousand men. 

Foreign military critics spoke of Scott and 
his gallant array — one half of which was com- 
posed of volunteers — with undiguified con- 



16 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



tempt, predicting the most disastrous failure, 
and pronouncing liie dictum that the Mexican 
capital was impregnable against forces three- 
fold greater thaa those with which Scott was 
undertaking the campaign. 

The American translator of Jomini's Grand 
Military Operations, says in his preface : 
'■ General Scott disposed of Santa Anna at 
Cerro Gordo very much as Frederick the Great 
did Daun at Leulhen ; he turned his position, 
attacking first nearest to his line of retreat, 
and engaging somewhat in the oblique order, 
proving himself a great commander. So at 
Contretras and likewise at Chorubusco, as 
soon as the enemy's position was defined ; 
and so with a climax, of skill and judgment at 
the City of Mexico, in changing the line of 
operations from the side of El Pevin to that 
of Coyacau." But to return from this digres- 
sion to our young hero. Previous to the 
surrender of Vera Cruz, March 29, 1847, the 
Fourth Infantry was transferred from General 
Taylor's command to Scou's, and Lieutenant 
Grant was transferred with his regiment. He 
took part in the siege operations of that place, 
and witnessed its surrender. Preparatory to 
the advance into the interior, he was, on April 
1st, appointed Regimental Quartermaster, a 
post which he held durmg the remainder of 
the Mexican war. It is a position requiring 
system and patience, and drawing a small 
additional pay ; it is usually conferred upon 
some solid and energetic officer, not necessa- 
rily remarkable for impetuous valor. The 
stafi^ appointment held by Grant allowed him 
to remain in charge of the regimental equip- 
age and trains — as we knew many officers to 
do during the late war in the hours of battle 
— and it is therefore recorded as greatly to 
G.ant's credit, that he always joined in the 
combats in which his regiment took part. He 
wrote home: "I do not mean you shall ever 
hear of my shirking my duty in battle. My 
new pnst of quartermaster is considered to af- 
ford an officer an opportunity to be relieved 
from fighting, but I do not, and cannot see it in 
that light. You have always taught me that 
the post of danger is the post of duty." Then, 
quoting Warren's memorable reply to Putnam, 
who had proposed sending him to a place of 
safety — " Send me where the fight may be 
the holiest, for tliere I can do the most good 
to my country'' — the young hero added : " So 
I feel in mv position as quartermaster. I do 
QOt intend that it shall keep me from fighting 



for our dear old flag when the hour of battle 
comes." 

At the battle of Molino del Rey, September, 
8th, 1847, he behaved with such distinguished 
gallantry, that he was awarded by Congress 
a brevet of first lieutenant, to date from the 
date of the battle. This brevet, however, owing 
to the fact of his becoming a full first lieu- 
tenant by the casualties of that bloody battle, 
he declined. He behaved with equal gallan- 
try during the remainder of the operations 
before the City of Mexico, but especially in 
the engagement of Chapultepec, fought Sep- 
tember 13th, 1847. The following extracts 
are from the official reports to the War 
Department of this battle : 

In the report of Captain Horace Brooks, 
Second Artillery, of the battle of Chapultepec, 
he says : " I succeeded in reaching the fort 
with a few men. Here Lieutenant U. S. Grant, 
and a few more men of the Fourth Infantry 
found me, and, by a joint movement, after an 
obstinate resistance, a strong field work was 
carried, and the enemy's right was completely 
turned." 

The report of Major Francis Lee, command- 
ing the Fourth Infantry, of the battle of Cha- 
pultepec, says : " At the first barrier the 
enemy was in strong force, which rendered it 
necessary to advance with caution. This was 
done, and when the head of the battalion was 
within short musket range of the barrier. 
Lieutenant Grant, Fourth Infantry, and Captain 
Brooks, Second Artillery, with a few men of 
their respective regiments, by a handsome 
movement to the left, turned the right flank of 
the enemy, and the barrier was carried. * * 
Second Lieutenant Grant behaved with distin- 
guished gallantry on the 13th and 14th." 

The report of Brevet Colonel John Garland, 
commanding the first brigade, of the battle of 
Chapultepec, says : " The rear of the enemy 
had made a stand behind a breast-work, from 
which they were driven by detachments of 
the Second Artillery, under Captain Brooks, 
and the Fourth Infantry, under Lieutenant 
Grant, supported by other regiments of the 
division, after a short but sharp conflict. * * 
I recognized the command as it came up, 
mounted a howitzer on the top of a covent, 
which, under the direction of Lieutenant Grant, 
Quartermaster of the Fourtk Infantry, and 
Lieutenant Lendrum, Third Artillery, annoyed 
the enemy considerably. * * * Imustnoi 
omit to call attention to Lieutenant Grant, 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GR.^T. 



17 



Fourth Infantry, who acquitted himself most 
nobly upon several occasions under my own 
observation." 

In this particular mention of oflScers for 
gallantry and good conduct, besides the offi- 
cers of his own staff, General Garland names 
but one other officer besides Lieut. Grant, out 
of his whole brigade. General Worth's report, 
September 16th. also speaks highly of Lieut. 
Grant. For gallant and meritorious conduct 
at the battle of Chapultepec, Lieut. Grant re- 
ceived a brevet of captain in the regular army, 
to date from September 13, 1847. The bre- 
vet was awarded by Congress during the ses- 
sion of 1849-50, and was confirmed during 
January, 1850. 

The only incident we have heard connected 
with Grant's sojourn among the Mexicans, is 
the following horse story, related by Prof. 
Coppee, at that time one of his companions- 
in-arms. During their residence at the capi- 
tal of the Montezumas, Grant, who was al- 
ways an admirable horseman, owned a fiery 
and spirited stallion. A Mexican gentleman, 
with whom he was upon friendly terms, asked 
the loan of the horse. Grant said afterwards, 
" I was afraid he could not ride him, and yet 
I knew, if I said a word to that eflect, the sus- 
picious Spanish nature would think I did not 
wish to lend him." The result was, the Mex- 
ican mounted him, was thrown before he had 
gone two blocks, and killed on the spot. 



CHAPTER II. 

BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

Returns to the United States — Marries Miss Dent — 
Off to Oregon — Promoted to a Captaincy — Resigns 
— Becomes a farmer — Hard work — Leather dealer — 
Residence m Galena — Commencement of the war — 
Grant drills a company — takes it to Springfield- 
Organizes volunteer troojjs — Appointed Colonel 
Twenty-first Illinois Infantry —General Yates of 
Illinois— Marches regiment to Missouri—Chaplain's 
description of Grant — Becomes Brigadier-General 
volunteers —Assumes command at Cairo—Seizes Pa- 
ducah— Battle of Belmont— Its results— Anecdote 
of Generals Grant and Polk. 

" I do not mean that you shall ever hear of my shirk- 
ing my duty in battle." Grant to his Father. 

Upon the close of the Me.xican war by the 
treaty proraulsated in April, 1848. the Fourth 
Infantry returned to the United States, and in 
August our hero was married to Miss Julia F. 
Dent, an estimable lady, to whom he became 



engaged before he went to Mexico. Among 
Grant's classmates was the present General F. 
J. Dent, whose family lived within a few miles 
of Jefferson barracks, and it was while sta- 
tioned there that Grant was introJuced by 
Lieutenant Dent to his sister, who now shares 
his honors, and modestly speaks of her illustri- 
ous husband as Mr. Grant. His regiment was 
stationed on the Canada frontier, with head- * 
quarters at Detroit, Michigan. Subsequently 
they were sent to Governor's Island, New York, 
preparatory to being ordered to tlie Pacific 
coast. In 1852, leaving wife and child — a son 
who is now a promising cadet at West Point — 
behind, Grant sailed nominally for California, 
but in reality for Oregon. The regiment re- 
mained but a short time in California, and 
then proceeded to Oregon ; the battalion to 
which Grant was attached having its head- 
quarters at Fort Dallas. While in this territory 
he received his promotion to a full captaincy, 
his commission dating from August, 1853. 
Seeing little prospect of rapid promotion in 
tliose '"dull and piping times of peace," and 
dissatisfied with the enforced and necessary 
separation from his family. Grant decided to 
leave the army, and accordingly in July 31, 
1854, resigned his commission as captain of 
the Fourth Infantry and returned to the East. 
His wish to become a farmer was now real- 
ized. Mr. Dent, his father-in-law, gave his wife 
a farm, at Gravois, about nine miles from St. 
Louis, Missouri, and his father presented him 
with the necessary stock and material to carry 
it on. He built a new house — in part with his 
own hands — of hewn logs for the/esidence of 
his family, and employed men to cut wood on 
his farm, which he hauled to the St. Louis 
market, and sold there, he driving one of his 
two teams, his little son the other. He was 
a lhorou2h farmer, and worked like a beaver, 
but at the expiration of four years of unre- 
mitting labor, finding he had not advanced 
pecuniarily, but had lost money, he decided 
o abandon the farm, which he did, and en- 
tered into the real estate business in St. Louis. 
After several months experience, discovering 
tliat the profits were insufficient for the main- ■ 
tenance of two families, he said to his partner : 
" You may have the whole of this business 
and I will look up something else to do.'' He 
obtained a place in the Custom House, which 
he lost in a f 'W months, by the death of the 
collector who had appointed him. 

In April, 1860, Grant went to Galena, 



18 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANl', 



Illinois, and entered the leather store be- 
longing to his father, and conducted by his 
two brothers. " He took right hold of the 
business with his accustomed industry," says 
his father, " and was a very good salesman. 
He had a faculty to entertain people in con- 
versation, although he talked but little him- 
self. But he never would take any pains to 
extend his acquaintance in Galena ; and after 
he joined the army, and had begun to be dis- 
tinguished, citizens of the town would stop in 
front of our store, within six feet of the win- 
dows, and look in to see which of the Grants 
it was that was absent, and had become fa- 
mous." In another letter addressed to the 
author, dated, Covington, Kentucky, March 
20, 1868, he says : — " After Ulysses' farming 
and real estate experiments failed to be self- 
supporting, he came to me at this place for 
advice and assistance. I referred him to 
Simpson, ray next oldest son, who had charge 
of my Galena business, and who was staying 
with mo at that time on account of ])oor 
health. Simpson sent him to the Galena store 
to stay until something better should turn up 
in his favor, and told him he would allow him 
a salary of eight hundred dollars per animm. 
* * Tiiat amount would have supported liis 
family then, .but he owed debts at St. Louis, 
and did draw fifteen hundred dollars in the 
year, but he paid back the balance after he 
went into the army." 

Thus it would seem that when the rebellion 
began, Grant was a private citizen, earning 
his bread in an insignificant inland town, and 
maintaining his family on a salary of less than 
seventy dollars per month, " lie was," says 
a biographer, "of simple tastes and habits, 
without influence and unambitious. Having 
never been brought in contact with men of 
eminence, he had no personal knowledge of 
great allaiis. He had never commanded more 
than a company of soldiers, and although he 
had served under both Taylor and Scott, it 
was as a subaltern and without any opportu- 
nity of intercourse with those commanders 
He had never voted for a President but once ; 
he knew no politicians, for his acquaintance 
was limited to army officeis and AVestern trad- 
ers ; even in the town where he lived, he had 
not met tlie member of Congress who re- 
presented that district for nine successive 
years, and who afterwanls became one of his 
most intimate personal friends. Of his four 
children, the eldest was eleven years old. He 



lived in a little house at the top of one of the 
picturesque hills, on which Galena was built, 
and went daily to the warehouse of iiis father 
and brother, where leather was sold by the 
wholesale and retail. He was thirty-nine 
years of age before his countrymen became 
acquainted with his name. 

A three-penny tax on tea precipitated the 
American Revolution. British taxation with- 
out representation detached thirteen of its 
choicest colonies from the crown and culmi- 
nated in their recognition as the indipendent 
republic of the United States of America. In 
1789, the States were established in " the 
more perfect Union " of the Federal Constitu- 
tion. Under this government, notwithstand- 
ing the stain on our fair fame, arising from the 
existence in many of the States of the institu- 
tion of African slavery, the country flourished 
in an unexampled manner, and the fame of the 
Model Republic extended "from the rivers to 
the end of the earth.'' Taxation was so light 
as hardly to be felt, and to our shores came 
the down-trodden people of the old world, 
seeking new homes in the great and growing 
Western land, which during eighty years of 
peace had expanded to thiitystates and nearly 
thirty millions of inhabitants. By the elec- 
tion in 1860 of Abraham Lincoln to the Presi- 
dency, the unscrupulous politicians of the 
South presuming loss of prestige and power, 
determined to rule or ruin, and induced their 
States to withdraw from the Union, and plunged 
our peaceful and prosperous country into one 
of the most terrific civil wars in the liistory 
of the human race. The Southerners began 
the war by seizing the national forts and arse- 
nals within their territory ; and at Fort Sum- 
ter, South Carolina, before resistance was 
ofiered, they fired on the National flag and 
compelled the heoric Amlerson and his gal- 
lant little band to surrender. With the news 
of the fall of Fort Sumter ceased the feeling of 
apathy which had hitherto prevailed among a 
portion of the people ; j)arty strife was forgot- 
ten, and the whole North, as one man, was 
ready to sustain and maintain the authority 
of the government, and to crush out the mon- 
ster mutiny organized by the pro-slavery fire- 
brands of the Southern States. 

It may be easily conceived how the treach- 
ery of Southern leaders, the secession of South 
Carolina and the bombardment of Sumter 
effected Grant. A decided Democrat before 
the war, he had, in his limited sphere, been 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



19 



in favor of conceding to the South all its 
rights, peihaps more ; but when the struggle 
actually began, his patiiotism and mililary 
ardor were aroused togeLlier. As a patriot he 
was delenuiiied to support his goverunient 
and its flag ; and as a soldier he saw opening 
before hiui a career of distinction for which 
he had been educated — a career in which he 
had already, in some degree, distinguished 
himself, and one for which he felt he was bet- 
ter fitte I llian for any of the vocations he had 
unsuccessfully pursued in civil life. Fort Sum- 
ter fell April ICth, 1861, and the President s 
call for seventy-flve thousand troops was made 
on the 15th. Four days later Grant was drill- 
ing a company of volunteers atOalena, and on 
the 23d proceeded with it to Springfield, the 
capital of Illinois. From there he wrote to the 
Adjutant-General of the United States array at 
Washington, offering his services in any capa- 
city in wliich he could aid the government. 
The letter was not deemed of sufHcientimi)or- 
tance to preserve in tjie Adjutant-General's of- 
fice. It stated that Qi ant had received a mili- 
tary education at the public expense, and now 
that the country was in danger, he thought it 
his dut\' to place at the dispos.al of the authori- 
ties whatever skill or experience he had ac- 
qiui'ed. He received no reply, but remained 
at Springfield, aiding the Governor in the 
organization of the State troops. 

His father wrote as follows concerning this 
portion of Gram's career. He says : 

" The company of the Galena volunteers offered to 
elect him captain, but a gentleman who desired a 
higher military position, and thought this would serve 
as a stepping stone to it, fraukly confessed his aspi- 
rations to Grant, who told him that he should not be 
a candidate himself, and also told the company that 
he should decline ; but he agreed to go with them to 
Springfield, the capital of the State. 

" On this mission he was accompanied b^ the Hon. 
E. B. "Washburne, the Bepresentative in Congress 
from the Galena district, who introduced him to Gov- 
ernor Yates, the Governor of the State. Mr. Yates 
did not appear to take much notice of him at the 
time ; but, a day or two afterwards, sent for him and 
asked him : 

" ' Do you understand how many men it takes to 
make a company ! And how many to make a regi- 
ment ? And what officers each must have .' ' 

"' Oh, yt'S,' replied Grant, ' I understand all about 
such matters ; I was educated at West Point, and 
served eleven years in the regular army.' 

" ' Well, then,' said the Governor, ' I want you to 
take a chair, here in my office, as Adjutant-General 
of the State. ' 

" Grant remained in this capacity several weeks, 
when he made a short visit to us at Covington. 
While he was absent fiom Springfield, Mr. Burk, a 



young man employed in our house at Galena, called 
on Governor Yates, and, in the course of the inter- 
view, the Governor said to him : 

" ' What kind of a man is this Grant ? lie has 
been educated at West Point and says lie wants to go 
into the army ; several regiments have olL-red to 
elect him colonel, but ho says, ' No ; ' and docliacs to 
bo a candidate. Wliat does he want ! ' 

" ' You see, Governor,' says Burk, ' Grant has only 
served in the regular army, where they have no elec- 
tions, but officers are jiromoted according to seni- 
ority. Whatever place you want liim for, just ap- 
point him without consulting him at all iK-lors- 
hanil, and you will find ho will accept whatever ho 
is appointed to.' 

" Acting on this suggestion, the Governor tele- 
graphed to me that he had appointed Ulysses Colo- 
nel of the 21st Illinois Infantry. But Uruut hud left 
for Springfield before the telegram was received, by 
way of Torre Haute, where Reynolds, a favorite 
classmate of his, was living." 

When Governor Yates, of Illinois, was a can- 
didate for the United States Senate, some of 
the friends of Washburne, who was a rival 
candidate for the same office, made the point 
in his favor that he was the man who had 
brought forward General Grant ; and they 
urged Ihall a man who had given .such a gen- 
eral to tlio country deserved to be a Senator. 
Yates, in reply, said, that it was not true that 
Wasiiburne had given Grant to the country, 
"God," said he, '• gave General Grant to the 
country, and I signed his ti:st conuuission." 
Then, stretching upward his riyiit hand, he 
exclaimed, " and it wis the most glorious day of 
my Ufv when thcscjingcics signed that commission^ 
To show the spirit of the loyal Governor of 
Illinois, now an eloquent member of the 
United States Senate and an entiiusiaslic ad- 
mirer and supporter of General Grant, we in- 
troduce here a part of the letter he wrote to 
a citizen of Oskaloosa, who complained that 
traitors had cut down his flag, and imjuired 
what he should do. The patriotic Yates re- 
plied as follows: "You say that the pola 
which floated the Stars and Slrip'-s on the 
Fourth of July was cut down by secessionists, 
and that, at a picnic which you are to have, 
it is threatened that the flag shall be taken 
down, and you ask me whether you would be 
justifiable in defending the flag with fi. earms. 
I am astonished at this question, as much a.-^ 
if you were to ask me whether yon would 
have a right to defend your property against 
robbers, or your life against murderers ! You 
ask me what you shall do 1 I rejily. Do not 
raise the American flag merely to provoke your 
secession neighbors ; do not be on the aggres- 
sive; but whenever you raise it on your own 



20 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT, 



soil, or on the public property of the States or 
county, or at any public celebration, from hon- 
est love to the flag and patriotic devotion to 
the country wliicli it symbolizes, and anj' trai- 
tor dares to lay his unhallowed hand upon it 
to tare it down, shoot him as you would a dog, 
and I will pardon you for the offence.''^ 

Before receiving his commission as Colonel, 
bearing date June 15, 1861, Grant went to Cin- 
cinnali to visit Major-General McClellan, then 
in command of Ohio troops. The two had 
been acquainted in the old army, and had 
served together in Mexico, and although Grant 
had no intention of making an application for 
a position on his staff' he still hoped that Mc- 
Clellan might give him one. He went twice to 
headquarters, but did not see McClellan, and 
returned to Illinois without mentioning his as- 
pirations to any one. When his commission was 
handed to him by the Governor he immediately 
accepted it and at once entered upon the dis- 
charge of his duties. Removing the regiment 
from their place of organization, Mattoon, to 
Caseyviile, he superintended their drill, im- 
proved their discipline, and not long after he 
marched his men in default of railroad trans- 
portation one hundred *and twenty miles to 
Quincy on the Mississippi, which was supposed 
to be in danger. Thence he moved under or- 
ders to defend the line of the Hannibal and 
St. Joseph's railroad in Missouri, and here 
coming into contact with other regiments com- 
manded by volunteer officers, his military ed- 
ucation and experience pointed to him, al- 
though the youngest colonel of the combined 
forces, as acting Brigadier-General of this 
place; his headquarters on July 31st were at 
Mexico, about fifty miles north of the Mis- 
souri river. On August 7th he was commis- 
sioned by the President Brigadier-General of 
Volunteers, to date from May 17th, hi.s first 
knowledge of his promotion coming to him 
from the newspapers of the day. As one of 
the few regular officers among the Illinois 
troops his name had been suggested to Mr. 
Lincoln by the Hon. E. B. Washburne for a 
Brigadier-Generalship, and the recommenda- 
tion was unanimously concurred in by all the 
other members of Congress from Illinois, He 
was se\»enteenth in a list of thirty-four original 
appointments of that date. 

The chaplain of Grant's regiment gives us the 
following interesting reminiscences of his pri 
vate and military character. Describing his 
personal appearance, he says he is about five 



feet ten inches in height, and will weigh one 
hundred and forty, or forty-five pounds. He 
has a countenance indicative of reserve, and 
indomitable will and persistent purpose : 

«' In dress he is indifferent and careless, making no 
pretensions to style or fashionable mihtary display. 
Had he continued Colonel till now, I think his uni- 
form would have lasted till this day ; for he never 
used it except on dress parade, and then seemed to 
regard it a good deal as David did Saul's armor. 

" ' His body is a vial of intense existence ;' and 
yet when a stranger would see him in a crowd, he 
would never think of asking his name. He is no dis- 
sembler. He is a sincere, thinking, real man. 

" He is always cheerful. No toil, coU, heat, hun- 
ger, fatigue or want of money depresses him. He 
does his work at the time, and he requires all under 
his command to be equally prompt. I was walking 
over the camp with him one morning after breakfast ; 
it was usual tor each company to call the roll at a 
given hour, it was now probably a half hour after the 
time for that duty ; the Colonel was quietly smoking 
his old meerschaum and talkmg and walking along, 
when he noticed a company drawn up in line and the 
roll being called. He instantly drew his pipe from 
his mouth and exclaimed, ' Captain this is no time 
for calling the roll ; order your men to their quarters 
immediately.' The command was instantly obeyed, 
and the Colonel resumed his smoking, and walked 
on, conversing as quietly as if nothing had happened. 
For this violation of discipline those men went with- 
out rations that day, except what they gathered up 
privately from among their friends of other compa- 
nies. Such a breach of order was never witnessed in 
the regiment afterwards while he was its colonel. 
This promptness is one of Grant's characteristics, and 
it is one of the secrets of his success. 

" On one of our marches, when passing through 
one of those small towns where the grocery is the 
principal establishment, some of the lovers of intox- 
ication had broken away from our lines and filled 
their canteens with whiskey, and were soon reeling 
and ungovernable under its influence.. 

" "While apparently stopping the regiment for rest, 
Grant passed quietly along and took each canteen, 
and wherever he detected the fatal odor, emptied the 
liquor on the ground with as much nonchalance as 
he would empty his pipe, and had the offenders tied 
behind the baggage wagons until they had sobered in- 
to soldierly propriety. On this point his orders were 
imperative ; no whiskey or intoxicating beverages 
were allowed in his camp. 

" In the afternoon of a very hot day in July, 1861, 
while the regiment was stationed in the town of 
Mexico, Missouri, I had gone to the cars as they were 
passing, and procured the daily paper, and seated 
myself in the shadow of my tent to read the news. 
In the telegraphic column I soon came to the an- 
nouncement that Grant, with several others, was 
made Brigadier-General. In a few minutes he oarne 
walking that way, and I called to him : 

" ' Colonel, I have some news here that will interest 
you.' 

" ' What have you. Chaplain ? * 

" ' I see that you are made Brigadier-General.' 

" He seated himself by my side, and remarked : 

" • Well, sir, I had no suspicion of it. It never 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



21 



came from any request of mine. That's some of 
Washburue's work. I knew "Washbume in Galena ; 
he was a strong Republican and I was a Democrat, 
and I thought from tlial he never liked me very well. 
Hence we never had more than a business or street 
acquaintance. But when the war broke out, I found 
he had induced Oovoruor Yates to appoint me mus- 
tering othcer of the Illinois volunteers, and after 
that had something to do in having me commission- 
ed colonel of the twenty-first regiment ; and I sup- 
pose this is some of his work.' 

" And he very leisurely rose up and pulled his 
black felt hat a little nearer his eyes, and made a few 
extra passes at his whiskers, and walked away with 
as much apparent unconcern as if some one had 
merely told him that his now suit of clothes was fin- 
ished. 

" Grant belongs to no church, yet he entertains 
and expresses the higliest esteem for all enterprises 
that tend to promote religion. When at home, he 
generally attended the Methodist Episcopal church. 
TVhile Colonel of the twenty-first regiment, he gave 
every encouragement and facility for securing a 
prompt and uniform observance of religious services, 
and was generally found in the audienoe listening to 
preaching. 

" Shortly after I came into the regiment, our mess 
■were cftie day taking their usual seats around the 
dinner table, when he remarked : 

" ' Chaplain, when I was at home, and ministers 
■were stopping at my house, I always invited them to 
ask a blessing at the table. I suppose a blessing is 
as much needed here as at home ; and if it is agreeable 
■with your views, I should be glad to havB you ask a 
blessing every time we sit down to eat.' " 

After servins under Pope in what was 
known as the '■ District of Northern Missouri," 
and being stationed at Ironton and Jefferson 
City, occupied in watcliing tlie movements of 
partisan forces of rebels under General Jeff. 
Thompson, G.ant was on Septe.Tiber 1st as- 
signed by General Fremont, commanding the 
Western Department, to the command of the 
District of Soutlie.ist Missouri, and on the 4l1i 
made his headquarters at Cairo, situated at the 
junction of tlie Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 
The district included not only the region from 
which it takes its name, but the southern part 
of Illinois, and so much of Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee as might fall into the possession of 
National forces, and comprised the junction 
of Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio, and Missis- 
sippi rivers. A glance at the map discloses 
the straiegetic importance of Cairo, as a base 
of operations for a Southern advance, and of 
vital importanca in tiie line of defence for the 
rich and extensive area of country lying be- 
tween the Ohio and Mississippi. It was also 
of great value as an inland naval depot, as a 
point for fitting out river expeditions, and for 
the transportation of supplies. 



At the time that Brigadier-G<^neral Grant, 
was transferred from Missouri to the post of 
Cairo, the State of Kentucky was endeavoring 
to maintain a neutral jjosition — a neutrality 
never recognized by the United States authori- 
ty. The rebels under General Pulk were the first 
to cross the Kentucky line, taking i)ossession 
of Columbus and Hickman on the Mississippi, 
and Bowling Green on the Green river, all of 
which places they fortified, also fortifying the 
Tennessee at Fort Henry, and tiie Cumberland 
at Fort Donaldson. Grant was not slow to 
follow their example. Fremont had ordered 
a movement in Missouri, which he was to su- 
perintend, and had directed the construction 
of Fort Holt, when Grant, learning of the ad- 
vance of Polk, at once notified his command- 
ing officer, and later in the day, having received 
additional information, he telegraphed to Fre- 
mont, at St. Louis, " I am getting ready to go 
• loPaducali; willstartatsixanda-hall o'clock." 
Still later on tho Sept. 5th, he wrote, " I am 
now nearly ready for Paducah, should not 
telegram arrive preventing the movement." 
Receiving no reply. Grant stai ted at ten and 
a-half o clock that night, with two regiments 
and a light battery, together with two gun- 
boats — the naval force at Cairo being under 
his control — arriving there early tho following 
morning, and taking possession of the town 
without firing a gun, the rebels under General 
Tilghman hurrying out of town by railroad, 
while the Union forces were landing. Grant 
wasjustin time to obtain possession of this val- 
uable position, a large force of several thou- 
sand rebels being within a few hours march of 
Paducah. After issuing a proclamation* to 



* Paducah, Ky., September 6, 1861. 
To THE Citizens of Paducah :— I am come amony 
you, not as an enemy, but as your tellow-citizen. 
Not to maltreat you, nor to annoy you, but to respect 
and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. An ene- 
my in rebellion against our common government has 
taken possession of, and planted his guns upon the 
soil of Kentucky, and fired upon you. Columbus and 
Hickman are in his hands. He is moving ujion your 
city. I am here to defend you against this enemy, to 
assist the authority and sovereignty of your govern- 
ment. / have nothing to do with opinions, and shall 
deal only with armed rebellion, and its aiders and 
abettors. You can pursue your usu.al avocations 
without fear. The strong arm of the government ia 
here to protect its friends and "punish ita enemies. 
Whenever it is manifest that you are able to defend 
yourselves, and maintain the authority of the spov- 
emment. and protect the riffhfs of loval citizens, I 
shall withdraw the forces under my command. 

U. S. Gkant, Brigadier-General commanding. > 



22 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the inhabitants, informing them of his reasons 
for taking jjossession of tlie town, and that lie 
was prepared to defend the citizens against the 
enemy, adding significantly that he had notii- 
ing to do with opinions, but should deal only 
with armed rebellion, its aiders and abettors, 
he returned to Cairo, leaving Gen. Charles F. 
Smith in command. On his arrival at his 
headquarters. Grant found a dispatch from 
Fremont, giving his permission that the move- 
ment against Paducah should be made " if he 
felt strong enough." 

Soon after the capture of Paducah, Smith- 
land, near the mouth of the Cumberland, was 
occupied by Grant's forces, two points of vi- 
tal importance to the rebels as a gateway of 
supplies, and as conlrolling the mouths of the 
Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. 

When Grant was assigned to the command 
of the District of Southeast- Missouri, Gener- 
al McCleinand's brigade with other troops 
were added to his brigade, until by tiie end of 
October, his forces amounted to nearly twen- 
ty thousand men. As early as the lOlh of 
September, he suggested the feasibility of cap- 
turing Columbus, an important position on the 
Mississippi, about twenty miles below Cairo, 
stating to General Fremont that, " if it was 
discretionary with me, with a little addition 
to my present force, I would take Columbus," 
No notice was taken of this ajjplication, and 
being kept strictly subordinate to the com- 
mander of the \Ve.stern Department, he was 
compelled to confine himself to drilling and 
disciplining his troops and making reconnois- 
sances. Belmont, on the westside of the Missis- 
sippi, a small post, fortified only by a rude 
sort of abatis, and lying directly under the 
guns of Columbus, was destined to be the 
scene of the first conflict of importance in the 
West. The rebels were constantly sending sup- 
plies and men from Belmont to Columbus, 
until at length it became one of the strongest 
works on the river, completely barring the 
navigation of the Mississippi, and a constant 
menace to every point of Grant's command. 

Fremont, imder date November first, direct- 
ed Grant to make demonstrations on both sides 
of the river towards Charleston, Norfolk, 
and Blandville, points a few miles north of 
Columbus. He was not, however, to make any 
attack on the enemy. On the second the com- 
manding general telegraphed him that three 
tiiousand rebels were in Missouri, about fifty 
miles southeast of Cairo, and ordered him to 



send a force to assist in turning thera into 
Arkansas. In accordance with these instruc- 
tions, Grant sent Colonel Oglesby on the night 
of the 3d, with the eighth, eleventh, eighteenth 
twenty-ninth Illinois, and three sijuadrons of 
cavalry, from Commerce, Missouri, towards 
Indian Ford, on the St. Francis river. On the 
5th, Grant received a dispatch from Fremont, 
that Polk, who was in command at Columbus, 
was reinforcing General Price in Southwest- 
ern Missouri, and as he (Fremont) was at the 
time confronting the rebel General, it was of 
vital importance that these rebel reinforce- 
ments should cease, by a demonstration being 
made against Columbus and Belmont. Ogles- 
by was at ofice ordered to deflect to New 
Madrid, below Columbus, and Colonel Wal- 
lace sent to reinforce him. General C. F, 
Smith Avas also instructed to move out from 
Paducah towards the rear of Columbus, and 
'•to keep the enemy from throwing over the 
river much more force than lliey now have 
there " — Grant informing him that " the princi- 
pal point to gain, is to i)revent the enemy from 
sending a force to' fall in the rear of those 
now sent out from tlieir command." Two 
other smaller demonstrations were made from 
Bird's Point and Fort Holt, for the purpose 
of deceiving the enemy. 

On the evening of November 6th, General 
Grant embarked his expeditionary force, con- 
sisting of three thousand one huudied and 
fourteen men, chiefly Illinoisians, on trans- 
ports at Cairo, and, accompanied by two gun- 
boats dropi)ed down the river about ten miles, 
and made a feint of lauding on the Kentucky 
shore. The Union force consisted of five reg- 
iments of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, 
and a section of artillery, the men composing 
the command, with the excej)tion of a few 
veterans of the Mexican war, never having 
been imder fire, and to some portion of the 
infantry, arms had only been distributed two 
days before. McClernandwas the only gen- 
eral officer who accompanied the expedition, 
and he had had no positive experience in bat- 
tle. Grant learned during the night of the 
6th, that General Polk was crossing large 
bodies of troops from Columbus to Belmont, 
with a view to cutting off Oglesby, and at 
once determined to convert the demonstation 
into an attack, as it was necessary to prevent 
a movement against the troops under Oglesby, 
as well as preventing reinforcements being 
sent to Price's army. Grant had no intention. 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



23 



of remaining at Belmont, which is on low 
ground, and could not have been held under 
the guns of Columbus, his object being sim- 
ply to destroy the camp, capture or disperse 
the enemy, and return to Cairo before Gener- 
al Polk* could intercept him. 

At six o'clock the expedition crossed the 
river, and debarked at Hunter's Point, three 
miles above Belmont, and just out of range 
of the enemy's batteries at Columbus. Leav- 
ing a battalion as a reserve near the trans- 
ports, the troops marched by flank towards 
Belmont, where the rebels had i)itched their 
camp, in an open field, protected by fallen 
timber, and halted when two miles distant. 
Deploy, ng his whole force as skirmishers, the 
attack began, and by nine o'clock our troops 
were hotly engaged driving the enemy back 
from field to field, and from tree to tree — a 
battle of the Wilderness on a small scale — un- 
til he reached his camp, protected by slashed 
timber as an abatis. Even this could not ar- 
rest the progress of our victorious troops 
who had been fighting for four hours, and 
with a wild hurrah, they charged over and 
through the fallen timber, capturing the camp, 
several hundred prisoners and all the artillery, 
and driving the enemy to the river bank and 
to their transports. Grant, who had been 
constantly in the front, and had his horse shot 
under him,t now ordered the destruction of 
the encampment ; burning tents, blankets and 
stores, after which, the troops with the prisou- 
fers and captured guns, were ordered back to 
the transports ; the object of tlie expedition 
having been accom[)lished. In the meantime, 
reinforcements had been sent over from Col- 
umbus, and landing above Belmont, now con- 
fronted our troops on their march to Hunter's 
Point. A cry was now raised, "We are sur- 
rounded," accompanied by some confusion, 
and a young staff-officer in an excited manner 
imparted the information to his chief. '' Well," 
said he, " if that is so, we must fight out as 
we cut our way in," and it was gallantly done, 
the enemy disappearing a second time over 



* General Leonidas Polk, commanding the rebel 
forces, was the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Louis- 
iana, a weak but brave man, who having in early life 
been educated at 'West Point, entered the army and 
was killed before the close of the rebellion. 

t General McClemand in his official report, allud- 
ing to Grant, says : " The gallant conduct' of his 
troops was stimulated by his presence, and inspired 
by his example." 



the banks. As, however, reinforcements were 
constantly crossing from Columbus, Grant 
could not halt to destroy the enemy, but was 
compelled to hasten forward to his transports. 
At five in the afternoon our forces had re-em- 
barked, and, protected by the gunbo:as, who 
poured in grape and canister on the pursuing 
rebels, returned to Cairo. We had eigliiy-five 
killed, three hundred wounded and about one 
hundred missing; while the rebel loss was 
much greater, cumbering in all, six hundrel 
and forty-two. Both parties claimed a victo- 
ry at Belmont, a battle insignificant C"mpared 
with the later engagements of the war; but 
possessing, says Professor Coppee, an impor- 
tance peculiarily its own. 

I. It was a coup d'essai of our new general. 
While others of his rank were playing quite 
subor<linate parts in large armies, Grant was 
making an indejjendent expedition in com- 
mand, outwitting the enemy, burning bia 
camp, retreating successfully when overpow- 
ered, and effecting bis {purpose in a most sol- 
dierly manner. 

II. Again, it was a trial of our new troops 
in the West, and they acquitted themselves so 
as to elicit the hearty praise of their comman- 
der and the country. They fought well in 
the attack, from colonels to privates, in the re- 
treat, and in cutting their way through Cheat- 
ham's force, and were never for a moment 
discouraged. 

The object of the expedition — to prevent 
the enemy from sending a force to Missouri, 
to cut off our detachments which were press- 
ing Thompson, and prevent his reinforcing 
Price — were fully accomplished. Grant iiad 
given him a blow which kept him concentra- 
ted, lest another might soon follow. 

III. It demonstrated the weakness of the 
enemy. It led to the victories of Fort Henry 
and Donelson. and the piercing of the rebels' 
line, which threw it back almost to the Gulf. 

In the appendix to this volume will be 
found the official report of the battle of Bel- 
mont, as made by General Grant, in June, 
18G.J, and herewith an address promulialed 
on the return of his expedition to Cairo, in 
which he refers to the part be took in the 
Mexican campaign, the only reference, that 
we are aware of, ever made by Grant in any of 
his official papers : 

IIeadquarters Dtstrict of RorrTHFAST I 
Missouri, Cairo, November 8, 1861. > 

The (General commanding thia military district re- 



24 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



tiims his thanks to the troops under his command at 
the battle of Belmont, on yesterday. 

It has been his tortune to have beon in all the bat- 
tles fought in Mexico by Geueiala Scott and Taylor, 
save Buena Vista, and he never saw one more hotly 
contested, or where troops behaved with more gallan- 
try. 

Such courage will insure victory wherever our flag 
may be borne and protected by such a class of men. 
To the brave men who tell, the sympathy of the coun- 
try is due, and will be manifested in a manner un- 
mistakable. 

U. 8. Grant, 
Brigadier-General commanding. 

With the following amusing anecdote of 
Generals Grant and Polk, we will conclude 
this chapter, before entering upon the story 
of the capture of Fort Henry. Flags of truce 
were occasionally sent back and forth between 
Cairo and Columbus, and the opposing Gene- 
rals who were in command of those posts were 
sometimes present. After the conclusion of 
business, it was frequently the case that wine 
would be brought forth and toasts diank at 
parting. On one occasion General Polk pio- 
posed a toast, which he said all could drink. 
Those present filled their glasses, and he gave 
" To General George Washington." As he 
paused, ])urposely, at the end of the name, 
the company commenced to drink, when ho 
added, " the first rebel." General Grant had his 
glass nearly finished by that time, and it was 
no use to stop, but he exclaimed, " that was 
scarcely fair, General, but I will be even with 
you some day." The laugh was, of course, 
against him, but the companj' parted in good 
humor. Some two weeks afterward, ano her 
flag of truce was sent down to Columbus, Gen. 
Grant accompanying it. 

After business was over, G«n. Polk produced 
the wine as usual, and Gen. Grant adroitly 
turned the conversation upon State riglits. 
He allowed them to proceed at considerable 
length, without attempting to refute anything. 
At length he arose to go, and proposed a 
toast at parting. Glasses were filled, and 
the General arose and gave, " Equal rights to 
all," He then made a pause as Gen. Polk had 
done, and when all were busily drinking, he 
added, " white and black," adding, " and now, 
'General, I think I am even with you." The 
reverend and gallant General Polk owned ui) 
flanked. 



CHAPTER III. 

FOBTS HEMKY AND DOHELSON. 

Change of Department Commanders — Qalleck suc- 
ceeds Fremont — Grant's command enlarged — The 
rebel Une — Columbus— Bowling Green— Fort Hen- 
ry—Fort Donelson — Gunboats at the West— De- 
monstrations in favor of Buell— Grant visits St. 
Louis— Urges the capture of Fort Henrj' — Receives 
permission — Attack — Its surrender— General Tilgh- 
man's report — Grant's magnanimity— Movement on 
Fort Donelson— Description of the work— Assault 
upon the trenches — Unsuccessful — Snow storm and 
cold weather— Unsuccessful attack by the fleet- 
Assault— Correspondence— Surrender— Grant pro- 
moted—Political tribute. 

" No terms other than unconditional and imme- 
diate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move 
immediately upon your works. " 

Grant to Buckneb. 

On the 12th of November, 1861, Fremont 
was removed, and General Henry W. Ilalleck, 
of the regular army, and second on the list of 
Major-Generals, was appointed his successor in 
the command of the Department of Missouri. 
He had been formerly an officer of engineers, 
a diligent military student, and a writer on mil- 
itary subjects, but had resigned and entered 
upon the practice of the law in California. 
Immediately upon assuming command of his 
Depaitment, he divided it into districts of 
which the District of Cairo was the most im- 
portant. It was enlarged so as to include all 
the southern part of Illinois, all of Kentucky 
west of the Cumberland river, and the south- 
ern countries of Missouri, and appointed Gen- 
eral Grant commander of the new district. 
Large numbers of troops, newly mastered into 
service from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, Iowa, and Minnesota poured into this 
district, some for service within its limits, 
others intended to reinforce the Union armies 
in other districts. Grant maintained a vigi- 
lant supervision over them, and whenever it 
was possible subjected them to thorough dis- 
cipline, organization and training to qualify 
them for service, and then distributed them 
as rapidly as possible to the Doints where their 
services were required. 

Before desciibing the operations carried on 
during the months of January and February, 
1862, it would be well to glance for a moment 
at the position of the enemy against whom our 
liero was to act. Columbus, the left of the 
well selected rebel line extending from the 
Mississippi to the Big Barren river in Middle 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



25 



Kentucky, was called the Gibraltar of Ameri- 
ca, and its heavy batteries of one hundred and 
forty guns swept the great river above and be- 
low ; on the right was Bowling Green, natur- 
ally well adapted to defence, and of strategic 
importance as being tlie junction of the Louis- 
ville and Nashville, and ihe Memphis and Oliio 
railroads, and the northernmost point then 
held by them, west of the Alleghanies. Here 
the rebels had concentrated one of their best 
appointed armies protecting Nashville and 
threatening Norlhern Kentucky. Midway be- 
tween Bowling Green and Columbus, and form- 
ing important lines in the strategic problem, 
flowed the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. 
About fift}'- miles south of the Ohio, these two 
streams running nearly parallel approach with- 
in twelve miles of eacli other, and liere, at a 
bend in each river, the rebels had erected 
strong works to bar the passage of Union 
troops into the very heart of the Confederacy. 
Fort Henry, on the eastern bank of the Ten- 
nessee, and Fort Donelson, on the western 
bank of the Cumberland, were connected by 
a good road and telegraph line. The former 
mounted seventeen guns and had barracks and 
quarters for fifteen thousand men ; the latter 
mounted about forty guns, and contained when 
the battle occurred, twenty thousand troops. 

As the naval forces bore an important part in 
the militar}' operations at the West, we must 
briefly describe the novel gunboats, known as 
"turtles," introduced on the Mississippi. Ten- 
nesse and Cumberland rivers at tliis early 
period of the war. and which, for a time, 
created consternation in the ranks of the ene- 
my. They were improvised out of the river 
steamers, and being sheatlied with iron, were 
rendered almost impervious to the heaviest ar- 
tillery. Armed as completely asCoeurde Lion's 
cavaliers, these dark monsters penetrated the 
rivers, insi)iring terror everywhere, and were 
of the greatest service in co-operating with 
the array. They were navigated by expe- 
rienced j)ilots, and commanded by officers of 
the regular navy. Sharing in direct assaults, 
driving guerrillas back fiom the river banks, 
convoying transports, carrying troops and 
stores, and covering the movements of 
troops — these strange iron -clad monsters, with 
the later invented monitors, all under the con- 
trol of General Halleck, contributed greatly 
to the successes gained on many battle-fields 
in the ]\Iississippi vailej'. 

Early in January, 18G2, in accordance with 



orders received. Grant moved a force of six 
thousand men from Cairo and Bird's Point, 
towards Mayfield and Murray, in West Ken- 
tucky ; he also sent out two brigades from 
Padueah, threatening Columbus, and the line 
between the " Western Gibraltar" and Bowl- 
ing Green. The trooi)s were out for more 
than a week, and suflered greatly from cold. 
There was no fighting done, but the objects of ^ 
the demonstration were fully accomplish- 
ed, for during its — continuance, rebel troops 
were prevented from reinforcing the army 
which General Thomas defeated, at Mill 
Springs, Kentucky. On the return of the Pa- 
dueah expedition, its coinmancler. General 
Smith, reported that Fort Henry could easily 
be captured if attacked by three or four of 
the turtle iron-clads, and a strong co-operat- 
ing land force. Having been granted permis- 
sion to visit Department head(iuarters at St. 
Louis, Grant proceeded there with the object 
of obtaining Halleck's consent to attack Forta 
Henry and Donelson, but returned without 
having obtained the desired permission. Ba- 
deau .saj'S, " Halleck silenced liim so quickly 
that Grant said no more on the subject, and 
went back to Cairo with the idea that his 
commander thought him guilty of a great mil- 
itary blunder." 

During the winter, the rebels had resorted 
to the same spirit of barbarism that prevailed 
in Virginia, of shooting our pickets ; an un- 
necessary practice, and at variance with hon- 
orable warfare, as conducted by civilized na- 
tions. Grant, therefore, issued the following 
order, reflecting honor upon his head and 
heart : 

Headquarters, Cairo, January 11, 18G1. 

Brioadier-Geneual Paine, Bird's Pnin! : — I un- 
derstand that four of our pickets were shot this 
morning. If this is so, and appearances indicate that 
the assassins were citizens, not regularly organized 
in the rebel army, the whole country should be 
cleared out for six miles around, and word given that 
all citizens making their appearance within those 
limits are liable to be shot. 

To execute this, patrols should bo sent out in all 
directions, and bring inlo camp, at Bird's Point, all 
citizens, together with their subsistence, and reijuire 
them to remain, under the penalty of death and de- 
struction of their property, until properly rfliivcd. 

Let no harm befall the.se people, if they qii iot ly sub- 
mit; but bring them in and place them in camp be- 
low the breastwork, and have them proix^rly guard- 
ed. 

The intention is not to make political prisoners of 
these people, but to cut off a dangerous class of 
siiies. 

This .ixijilies to all classes and conditions, age and 



26 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Bex. If, however, -women and children prefer other 
protection ihan we can afford them, they may be 
allowed to retire beyond the limits indicated— not to 
return until authorized. 

By order of U. S Gbant, 

Brigadier-General commanding. 

On the 28Lh of the same month, Grant's 
mind still being intent upon the capture of the 
forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, 
telegraphedtoHalleckat St, Louis: "With per- 
mission I will take and hold Fort Henry, on 
the Tennessee, and establish and hold a large 
camp there,'' andon the day following, wrote: 
" In view of the large force now concentra- 
ting in this district, and the present feasibility 
of the plan, I would re.^pectfully suggest the 
propriety of subduing Fort Henry, near the 
Kentucky and Tennessee line, and holding the 
position. If this is not done soon, there is 
but little doubt that the defences on both the 
Tennessee and Cumberland rivers will be ma- 
terially strengthened. From Fort Henry it 
will be easy to operate, either on the Cumber- 
land ("only twelve miles distant), Memphis, or 
Columbus. It will besides have a moral ef- 
fect upon our troops to advance thence to- 
wards the rebel States. The advantages of 
this move are as perceptible to the General 
commanding as to myself, therefore further 
statements are unnecessary." Commodore 
Foote, commanding the naval forces on the 
Mississippi and Ohio rivers, also wrote to Hal- 
leck, recommending the movement ; and at 
length, on the 30th inst., that officer gave the 
desired permission, accompanied by instruc- 
tions. On the morning of Monday, February 
2d, a force of seventeen thousand men on 
transports, convoyed by the gunboat fleet of 
seven vessels, moved up the Ohio to Paducah, 
and thence to Bailey's Ferry, on the east bank, 
three miles above Fort Henry, where the 
troops weie landed on the 4th. On the 6th, 
the troops moved towanls the enemy's works, 
but were so much delayed by the horrible 
condition of the roads, the whole country be- 
ing inundated, that the fortsuccumbed to the 
attack of the fleet after a severe bombard- 
ment of one hour and a-half, and befoie the 
army could get up to participate in the at- 
tack. " The plan of the attack," says Foote, 
" so far as the army reaciiing the rear of the 
fort to make a demonstration, was frustrated 
by the excessively muddy roads, and the high 
stage of water, preventing the arrival of our 
troops until some time after I had taken pos- 
session of the fort." The main force of the 



rebels^stationed about two miles from the 
fort, to be out of reacii of the gunboats — in- 
gloriously retreated on Fort Donelsoti, before 
the result of the action was known, and with- 
out striking a single blow. 

The rebel account of the battle given by- 
General Tilghman, in his dispatches, bears 
testimony to Graut's magnanimity to a fallen 

foe : 

FoBT IlENKy, February 9, 1862. 1 

Colonel "W. "W. Mackall, A. A. General, C. S. A., 
Bowling Green : 

Siis : Tluough the courtesy of Brigadier-General 
U. S. Grant, commanding Federal forces, I am per- 
mitted to communicate with you in relation to the 
result of the action between the tort under my com- 
mand at this place, and the Federal gunboats on 
yesterday. 

At eleven o'clock and forty minutes on yesterday 
morning, the enemy engaged the fort with seven gun- 
boats, mounting fifty-four guns. I promptly re- 
turned their fire, with tlic eleven guns from Fort 
Henry bearing on the river. The action was main- 
tained with gi'eat bravery by the force under my com- 
mand until ten minutes past two p. M., at which time 
I had but four guns fit for service. At five minutes 
before two, finding it impossible to maintain the fort, 
and wishing to spare the lives of the gallant men un- 
der my command, and on consultation with my offi- 
cers, I surrendered the fort. Our casualties are small. 
The effect of our shot was severely felt by the enemy, 
whoso superior and overwhelming force alone gave 
them the advantage. * * * 

I communicate this result with deep regret, but 
feel that I i)erformed my whole duty in the defence 
of my post. _. 

I take occasion to fioar testimony to the gallantly 
of the officers and men under my command. They 
maintained their position with consummate bravery, 
as long as there was any hope of success. I also take 
great pleasure in acknowledging the courtesies and 
consideration shown by Brigadier-General U. S. 
Grant and Commodore Foote, and the officers under 
their command. 

I have the honor to remain, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 
Lloyd Tilghman, Brigadier-General C. S. A. 

The Union General at once telegraphed to 
the Department commander : " Fort Henry is 
ours. The gunboats silenced the batteries be- 
fore the investment was completed. * * * 
I shall take and destroy Fort Donelson the 
8th, and leturn to Fort Henry." On the 7th, 
Grant's cavalry penetrated to within a mile of 
Fort Donelson, driving in the rebel pickets, 
and the army was oidered to move on the 
day following, but owing to the impassable 
state of the roads it was found impracticable 
to move the baggage or artillerv, and owing to 
the high state of water in the Tennessee, flood- 
ing the whole country, it was found impossible 
to move for several days, until portions of our 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



27 



ground could be bridged over. Ordering up 
reinforcements from va ious quarters, Grant 
moved tiie advance of his army under Mc- 
Clernand, toward Fort Donelson on the lltb, 
and tlie day following the main body, com- 
manded by C. F. Smith, and numbering fifteen 
thousand men, marched from Fort Henry, 
leaving a force of twenty- five hundred to gar- 
rison and hold tliat post and Fort Ileimau. 
Our troops halted in front of the rebel lines 
the same day, no obstacles having been op- 
posed to their march by the enemy. The 
gunboat fleet had already proceeded down the 
Tennessee, in order to co-operate with the 
army in the attack upon Donelson, and with 
them had gone transports, having on board six 
regiments to be disposed of as circumstances 
should render expedient. 

The rebel stronghold against which the 
combined forces of the army and navy were 
now directed was situated on tlie west bank 
of the Cumberland river, enclosing about one 
hundred acres, and garrisoned by twenty-one 
thousand men vmder Generals Floyd, Pillow, 
and Cuckner. The country was hilly, and dense- 
ly wooded in the vincinity of the main fort, but 
the timber had been cut down far out in ad- 
vance of I he breastworks, tiie smaller trees 
chopped till they stood breast high, and the 
limbs left attached to the^h'unks forming an 
abatis. Two streams, at this time not fordable, 
set back from the Cumberland and formed the 
right and left of the rebel position, which ex- 
tended nearly three miles, and was strongly 
entrenched, every advantage having been 
taken of the defensible character of the coun- 
try. At inside intervals were secondary lines 
and detached works, commanding the outer en- 
trenchments. The fort, standing upon a high 
hill on tl>e river bank, where it makes an 
abrupt turn from north to west, flowing in the 
latter direction for about a quarter of a mile, 
and then turning nortiiward again, could pour 
a murderous fire from its upper and water bat- 
teries upon the attacking gunboats. 

Thursday, the 13th, was occupied in getting 
the troops in position, General C. F. Smitii 
having the left and General McClernand the 
right of the national line. No assault was made, 
owing to the non-arrival of the gunboats with 
the reinforcem^^nts, sent by water, and the 
novel sight was exhibited of an army of fifteen 
thousand men besieging a stronghold garri- 
soned b)' twenty-one thousand troops. Dar- 
ing the day there was considerable cannonad- 



ing by both parties, and some picket firing. 
An assault was made by four regiments of 
JlcClernand's division during the afternoon, for 
the purpose of making a lodgment upon the 
enemy's entrenchments, and parlicula ly upon 
an apartment covering a strong battery iu the 
front. The storming party formed at the foot 
of the hill, where they were in a measure pro- 
tected from a direct fire. The troops moved 
up the hill in a gallant manner, but the ene- 
my's fire was so withering, and the obstacles 
presented by the abatis and pallisading .so great 
that they we;e comi)elled to fall back without 
acomplishing the object. 

At sunset no reinforcements of importance 
had arrived, nor had Flag Officer Foole and 
the iron-clads yet a[)peared on the scene. 
That night the weather became inlen.sely cold, 
and befoie morning a driving storm of snow 
and hail set in, causing the tioo[)s, wlio were 
bivouacking in line of battle without tents, 
many witliout blankets, and with insufficient 
food, to undergo fearful sufleiiug. Many of 
the soldiers of both armies were found frozen 
to death after day dawned on Friilay the 14th. 
With the morning light came the long-looked for 
reinforcements under General Wallace, whose 
command was placed in the centre line, with 
the exception of one brigade allotted to the 
extreme right. During the whole dayaheavy 
artillery fire was kept up by the contending 
forces, and constant firing by the shar])-shoot- 
ers, and at three o'clock the naval attack was 
opened by the iron-clads, and after a severe 
engagement of nearly ten hours, during which 
time the naval vessels were all so much injured 
as to have but twelve guns that could be 
brought to bear on the rebel works, the Com- 
modore wounded, and fifty-four men killed 
and disabled, Foote ordere 1 his squadron to 
withdraw. Had the attack been a success it 
was tlie intention of General Grant to have 
carried the rebel entrenchments by an assault 
of the whole line. That day he write : "Ap- 
pearances now are that we shall have a pro- 
tracted siege here. I fear the result of an at- 
tempt to carry the place by storm with new 
troops. I feel great confidence, however, of 
ultimately reducing the place." 

Before daylight on Saturday, the l")th, Gen- 
eral Grant went on board the flagship SU 
Louis to consult with the wounded Commo- 
dore, by whom he was informed that the dis- 
abled condition of his squadron compelled 
him to return to Cairo for repairs. The gal- 



28 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



lant Foote suggested that the army should re- 
main in statu quo until the fleet could return 
and take part either in a bombardment or in 
a protracted siege, and it is verj- possible that 
the advice would have been followed had it 
not been prevented by the rebels taking the 
initiative and hastening their own destruction. 
- The rebel leaders, observing the constant arri- 
val of reinforcements — the Union army now 
numbered twenty-two thousand men — feeling 
that the lines were closing around them, and 
aware that the investment of the place would 
soon be complete, decided upon assuming the 
aggressive and cutting their way out, if in- 
deed they did not succeed in totally destroy- 
ing Grant's army. Ten thousand men, includ- 
ing Forrest's cavalry, were to be thrown upon 
McClernand, and an equal number against the 
centre under Wallace ; these atatcks being suc- 
cessful would force back the riglit flank and 
centre around General Smith, commanding the 
left, as a pivot, and then the whole army might 
be easily routed or destroyed. Accordingly, 
at five o'clock, before our half- frozen troops 
were astir, the rebel column, led by Pillow, 
moved out with thirty guns to crush McCler- 
nand. The morning reveille had just sounded 
in our camp, and the troops were not un- 
der arms, when the sound of musketrj^ ap- 
proaching nearer and nearer, made it evi- 
dent even to the inexperienced, that a serious 
attack had begun against our right. McAr- 
thur's brigade was the first to feel the rebel fire, 
and soon the attack extended along the whole 
of McClernand's front, the overwhelming num- 
ber of the rebels gradually pushing back the 
Union forces, and frighteningthe faint-hearted, 
by their fiend-like yells. Some guns are lost; 
the line is forced back ; many regiments are 
wavering, their ammunition being entirely ex- 
pended, when Wallace comes up with timely 
reinforcements from the centre, giving cour- 
age to our hard-pressed troops, and holding 
for a time the enemy in check. Gradually, 
however, the Union line was forced back, amid 
disorder and panic. It was at this juncture 
of aflairs that Grant, returning from the flag- 
ship at about nine o'clock, met an aid gallop- 
ing up to inform him of the- assault. Imme- 
diately directing General Smith, who had not 
yet been engaged, to hold himself in readiness 
to assault the rebel right with his whole com- 
mand. " Riding on," says Badeau, " he soon 
reached the point where the hardest fighting 



had occurred. The rebels had failed to make 
their way through the National lines, and were 
doggedly retiring. Still the troops were very 
much disordered ; most of them had never 
been in battle. A few, and not a few, were yet 
unfamiliar with the use of their muskets. 
The giving out of the ammunition in the car- 
tridge boxes, and the heavy loss in field oflicers 
had created great confusion in the ranks. 
There was no pursuit, and the battle was mere- 
ly lulled, not ended. The men, like all raw 
troops, imagined the enemy to be in over- 
whelming force, and reported that the rebels 
had come out with knapsacks and haversacks, 
as if they meant to stay out, and fight for sev- 
eral days. Grant at once inquired, "Are the 
haversacks filled 1 " Some prisoners were ex- 
amined, and the haversacks proved to contain 
three days' rations. "Then they mean to cut 
their way out; they have no idea of staying 
here to fight us;" and looking at his own dis- 
ordered men not yet recovered from the shock 
of battle. Grant exclaimed, " Whichever party 
attacks now, will whip, and the rebels will 
have to be very quick if they beat me." 

Putting spurs to his hoise, he rode at once 
to the left, where the troops, not having been 
engaged, were fresh, and ordered an immedi- 
ate assault. As they rode along the general and 
his staff reassured the men with the news that 
the rebels were getting desperate, and that the 
attack of the morning was an attempt to cut 
their way out, not an ordinary and confident 
assault. As soon as the troops caught this 
idea, they took new courage ; scattered until 
now in knots all over the field, they at once 
reformed, and went towards the front. At this 
time Grant sent a request to Foote to haVe 
all the gunboats make their appearance to tha 
enemy. " A terrible conflict," he said " ensued 
in my absence, which has demoralized a por- 
tion of my command, and I think the enemy 
is much more so. If the gunboats do not 
appear, it will i-eassure the enemy and still 
farther demoralize our troops. I must order 
a charge to save appearances. I do'not ex- 
pect the gunboats to go into action." Two 
of the fleet accordingly ran up the river, and 
threw a few shells at long range. McCler- 
nand and Lewis Wallace were informed of 
Smith's order to assault, and directed to hold 
themselves in readiness to renew the battle 
in their front the moment Smith began his 
attack. To McClernand the order was " to 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



20 



push his column to the river if possible, other- 
wise to remain, statu ^wo, maintaining his pres- 
ent position." 

General Smith's assaulting column was 
formed of Lanman's brigade, the second Iowa 
infantry having the lead. Smith formed the 
regiment in two lines, with a front of five com- 
panies each, thirty paces apart. He told the 
men what they had to do, and look his posi- 
tion between these two lines with the color 
bearer by his side. It was nearly sunset when 
the brigade dashed up the sleep hill-side to- 
wards the ridge where the rebels had con- 
structed their outer works. They were met 
by a murderous fire, thinning the ranks and 
causing the men to waver for a moment, when 
the general, wilh his cap lifted and his grey 
hair streaming in the wind, while his voice rang 
out clear, " Forwa d, steady men, steady," as 
he with his sword uplifted, led on the stal- 
wart sons of the West by his splendid example. 
Electrified and encouraged by the old hero's 
contempt of danger, the men moved forward, 
up, up, till they reach and pass through the 
abatis, gain the riJge — the works — and with a 
bayonet charge drive the rebels before them. 
How the cheer rang out on that cold clear 
wintry night as the colors of the noble regi- 
ment, at the head of the Union lines, were 
planted on the enemy's entrenchments. It 
was one of the most magnificent charges of 
the 'rt-ar, and gave Grant the key of the reb- 
el works. Another hour of daylight would 
have sufficed to carry the fort. While Smith 
maintained his position inside the entrench- 
ments, Wallace and McClernand, on the right 
and centre, had won back the lost ground and 
guns captured by the rebels in the morning, 
and held an advanced position near the rebel 
works, when night fell and put an end to the 
battle. Grant slept in a negro hut that night, 
only awaiting the morning to storm and carry 
the works, and tlie brave troops, for the most 
part without food and without fire, slept on 
the frozen ground, looking forward with en- 
thusiasm to the coming day, which was to 
compensate them for all their hardships and 
sufferings by a great and crowning victory. 
On Sunday, when the troops were awakened 
by the reveille, a white flag was flying from 
fort Donelson ;^ut before proceeding with our 
narration, we must let a captured rebel officer 
relate the events of that night within the 
rebel works. Floyd, Pillow, Buckner, were 
the principal dramatis persona : / 



"'I cannot hold my position a half hour. The 
Yankees can turn my llauk or advance directly upon 
the breastworks,' said General Buckner. 

" ' If you had advanced at the tune ajjreed upon, 
and made a more vi^jorous attack, we should have 
routed the enemy,' said General Floyd. 

" ' I advanced as soon as I could, and my trooi>9 
fought as bravely as others,' was the response from 
General Buckner, a middle-aged, medium-sized man. 
His hair is iron grey. He has thin whiskers ai^ a 
moustache, and wears a grey kersey overcoat witn a 
great cape, and gold lace on the sleeves, and a black 
hat with a nodding black plume. 

" ' Well, here we are, and it is useless to renew the 
attack with any hope of success. The men are ex- 
hausted,' said General Floyd, a stout, heavy man, 
with thick lips, a large nose, evil eyes, and course 
features. 

" ' We can cut our way out,' said Major Brown 
commanding the Twentieth Mississippi, a tall, black- 
haired, impetuous, fiery man. 

" ' Some of us might escape in that way, but the at- 
tempt would be attended with great shxughter,' re- 
sponded General Floyd. 

" ' My troops are bo worn out and cut to pieces 
and demoralized, that I can't make another fight,' 
said Buckner. 

" ' My troops will fight till they die ! ' answered 
Major Brown, setting his teeth together. 

" ' It will cost the command three-quarters of its 
present number to cut its way through ; aud it is 
WTong to sacrifice throe-quarters of a command to 
save the other quarter,' Buckner continued. 

" ' No otficer has a right to cause such a sacrifice,' 
said Major Gilmer, of General Pillow's staff. 

" ' But we can hold out another day, and by that 
time we can get steamboats here to take us across the 
river,' said General PiUow. 

" ' No, I can't hold my position a half hour ; and 
the Yankees will renew the attack at daybreak," 
Buckner replied. 

" ' Then wo have got to surrender, for aught I see,' 
said an officer. 

" ' I won't surrender the command, neither will I 
be taken prisoner,' said Floyd. lie doubtless re- 
membered how he had stolen public proixjrty while 
in otfice under Buchanan, and would rather die thsua 
to fall into the hands of these whom he know would 
be likely to bring him to an account for his villainy. 

" ' I don't intend to be taken prisoner,' said Pillow. 

" ' What will you do, gentlemen \ ' Buckner asked. 

" ' I mean to escape, and take my Virginia brigade 
with mc, ii I can. I shall turn over the command to 
General Pillow. I have a right to escape if I can, 
but I haven't any right to order the entire army to 
make a hopeless fight,' said Floyd. 

" ' If you surrender it to me, I shall turn it over to 
General Buckner,' said General PiUow, wlio was also 
disposed to shirk responsibility and desert the men 
whom he had induced to vote to secede from the 
Union and take up arms against their country. 

" 'If the command comes into my hands, I shall 
deem it my duty to suiTondcr it. I shall not call 
upon the troops to make a useless sacrifice of life, 
and I will not desert the men who have fought so 
nobly,' Buckner replied, with a bitterness which 
made Floyd and Pillow wince. 
" It was past midnight. The council broke up. 



30 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



The brigade and regimental officers were astonished 
at the result. Some of them broke out into horrid 
cursing and swearing at Floyd and Pillow. 

" ' It is mean ! ' ' It is cowardly ! ' ' Floyd always 
vras a rascal.' 

" ' We ai-e betrayed ! ' ' There is treachery ! ' said 
they. 

'"It is a mean trick for an ofiicer to desert his 
men. If my troops are to be surrendered, I shall 
stick by them,' said Major Brown. 

"'I denounce Pillow as a coward; and if I ever 
meet him, I'll shoot him as quick as I would a dog,' 
said Major McLain, red with rage. 

" Floyd gave out that he was going to join Colonel 
Forrest, who commanded the cavalry, and thus cut 
his way out ; but there were two or three small steam- 
boats at the Dover landing. He and General Pillow 
jumped on board one of them, and then secretly 
marched a portion of the Viginina brigade on board. 
Other soldiers saw what was going on— that they 
■were being deserted. They became frantic with ter- 
ror and rage. They rushed on board, crowding every 
part of the boat. 

" ' Cut loose I ' shouted Floyd to the captain. 

" The boats swung into the stream and moved up 
the river, leaving thousands of inturiated soldiers on 
the landing. So, the man who had stolen the public 
property, and who did all he could to bring on the 
war, who induced thousands of poor, ignorant men 
to take up arms, deserted his post, stole away in the 
darkness, and left them to their fate." 

Colonel Forrest — afterwards the celebrated 
cavalry general — also made his escape by 
fording the river with his regiment during the 
night. 

Early in the morning Buckner sent a bug- 
ler and a note to Grant, which runs as follows 

nEADQTJARTKBS FoUT DoTTE-LSON, ) 

February, 16, 18G2. ) 

Sm : — In consideration of all the circumstances 
governing the present situation of affairs at this sta- 
tion, I propose to the commanding officer of the Fed- 
eral forces the appointment of commissioners to agree 
upon terms of capitulation of the forces and fort un- 
der my command, and, in that view, suggest an ar- 
mistice till twelve to day. 

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
S. B. Buckner, Brigadier-General C. S. A. 
To Brigadier-General Grant, commanding United 

States forces near Fort Donelson. 
- Grant did not want many minutes to con- 
sider his reply. In place of any such propo- 
sal, the bearer's hand had the subjoined brief 
and comprehensive note : , 

Headquarters Armt in the Field, > 

C.^MP NEAR IJONELSON, Feb. IG, 18G2. I 

To General S. B. Buckner, Confederate Army : 

Yours of this date, proposing an armistice, and ap- 
pointment of commissioners to settle terms of capit- 
ulation, is just received. No terms other than un- 
conditional and immediate surrender can be accept- 
ed. I propose to move immediately upon your 
works. 

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
IT. S. Grant, 
i^rigadier-General, U. S. A., commanding. 



The rebel General, knowing that he was 
helpless, made haste to reply as follows ; 

Headquarters, Dover, Tennessee, ) 
February IG, 1SG2. \ 

To Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, U. S. A. 

Sir :— The distribution of the forces under my com- 
mand, incident to a change of commanders, and the 
overwhelming force under your command, compel me, 
notwithstanding the brilliant success of the Confed- 
ate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and ua- 
chivalrous terms which you propose. 

1 am, sir, your very obedient servant, 

S. B. BucKNEB, Brigadier-General C. S. A. 

As soon as General Grant had received 
this communication from his old classmate, 
he mounted his horse and proceeded with his 
staff to Buckner's headquarters, where be 
disclaimed any desire to unnecessarily hu- 
miliate his prisoners, but would allow the of- 
ficers to retain their side-arms and personal 
baggage. All the public i)ro;>erty, including 
horses, were to be given uj), the privates be- 
ing permitted, as in ihe case of tlie officers, to 
retain their personal effects. In the course 
of a conversation whicli took place between 
the commanders, Buckner acknowledged that 
they had been foiled in their attempt to cut 
their way out the day previous, and alluding 
to Grant's inferior force at the commencement 
of the siege, remarked, " If I had been in 
command, you would not have reached Fort 
Donelson so easily." " If you had been in 
command," replied Grant, " I should have 
waited for reinforcements, and marched from 
Fort Henry in greater strength ; but I knew 
that Pillow would not come out of his 
works to fight, and told my staff so, though I 
believed he would fight behind his works." 
The result of this magnificent victory, which 
perfectly electrified the loyal North, was six- 
ty-five guns, seventeen thousand small arms, 
three thousand horses and nearly fifteen thou- 
sand prisoners. It was the first important 
victory achieved by the Union arms, and it at 
once gave Grant a national reputation. The 
day after the surrender, the victorious Gener- 
al issued the following general order, dating 
it from his new command, which had been 
formed by General Halleck on the 14lhofi 
February, in anticipation of the fall of Fort 
Donelson. It was designated as the District 
of West Tennesee, " limits not defined," 
permission being given for him to select his 
own headquarters. It was as follows : 

Headquarters District of West Tennes- > 
SEE, Fort Donelson, Feb. 17, 18G2. ( 

The general commanding takes great pleasure in 
congratulating the troops of this com m and for the 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



31 



triumph over rebellion gained by their valor on the 
thirteenth, fourteenth and lilteenth instant. For 
four successive nights, without shelter, during the 
most inclement weatliur known in the latitude, they 
faced an enemy in large torce in a position chosen by 
himself. Though strongly fortified by nature, all 
the additional safeguards suggested by science were 
added. "Without a murmur this was borne, prepared 
at all times to receive an attack, and with continuous 
skirmishing by day, resulted in forcing the enemy to 
surrmder without conditions. The victory achieved 
is not only great in the effect it will have in breaking 
down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number 
of prisoners of war ever taken in any battle on this 
continent. Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked 
in capitals on the map of our united countiy, and 
the men who fought the battle will live in the mem- 
ory of a grateful people. 

As a reward for this splendid achievement, 
Grant war made a ilajor-Gmieral of Volun- 
teers. He was recommended by the Secre- 
tary of War, nominated the same day by the 
President, and at once confirmed by the Sen- 
ate, his commission dating from the day of 
the surrender. On the 20th, Mr. Stanton 
wrote, " We may well rejoice at the recent 
victories, for they teach us that battles are to 
be won now, and by us, in the same and only 
manner that they were ever won by any peo- 
ple, or in any age, since the days of Joshua — 
by boldly pursuing and striking the foe. 
What, un ler the blessing of Providence, I con- 
ceive to be the true organization of victory and 
military combination to end this war, was de- 
clared in a few words by General Grant's 
message to General Buckner, 'I propose to 
move immedia:ely on your works.' " 

We cannot better conclude this chapter than 
with the following beautiful stanzas from the 
pen of a gifted New-England poet, commemo- 
rative of the magnificent yet costly victory, 
which electrified the whole country: 

" O gales, that dash the Atlantic's swell 
Along our rocky shores, 
\ Whose thunders diapason well 
New England's glad hurrahs ; 

' •' Bear to the prairies of the West 
The echoes of our joy, — 
The prayer that springs in every breast — 
' God bless thee, Illinois ! ' 

" Oh, awfid hours, when grape and shell 
Tore through the unflinching line ! 

* Stand firm ! Remove the men who fell '. 
Close up, and wait the sign ! ' 

" It came at last : ' Now, lads, the steel ! ' 

The rushing hosts deploy ; 
' Charge, boys I ' The broken traitors reel ; 

Hurrah for ilhnois '. 



' In vain thy rampart, I)oneLion, 

The living torieul burs; 
It leaps the Wall— the tort is won — 
Up go the Stripes and bturs. 

' Thy proudest mother's eyelids fill. 

As dares her gallant b<jy, 
And riymouth Hoik and Bunker Ilill 
Yeaou to thee, lUinuis." 



CHAPTER IV. 

BATTLE OF SUILOU. 

Results capture Fort Donelson— Nashville fa1I»— 
Columbus and Bowling Green evacuated — (imot 
and Sherman— Grant goes to Nashville— Is n.lieve<i 
from command— Pittsburg LandiOij — Grant re- 
instated — Ueadquarters at ISavanniiJi -Concentra- 
tion of troops at Pittsburg Landing— Disposition 
rebel forces — Disposition Grant's unny— The bat- 
tle-field— The attack— The situation-Thc Union 
army forced back — Close ol the day's fightings 
Both armies— Nelson's and Wallace's divisions on 
the field— More troops reach Pittsburg— Monday's 
battle— Rebels defeated— They retreat to Corinth 
— Incidents— Grant defamed — Defended in an elo- 
quent speech — The old Sero'eant of bhiloh. 
" I care nothing for promotion so long as our aVnu 

are successful." Guant to buKUMAii. 

The capture of Fort Donelson penetrated 
the rebel line of defence westof the Alleghany 
mountains, turning both its extremities and 
uncovering the region beiiind. The impor- 
tance of Grant's great achiuvement was ex- 
aibited by the evacuation of Clarksville on the 
east bank of the Cumberland, where largo 
quantities of military stores were found by 
our troops, who entered tiie place on tiie 20lh 
February ; and three days later the flag of 
the Union was carried through the streets of 
Nashville, that city being also evacuated by 
Albert Sidney Johnston and the rebel forces. 
Bowling Green, rendered untenable by the fall 
of Fort Donelson, was abandoned, and early 
in March the fiery prelate, Polk, evacuated the 
"Western Gibraltar" — Columbus — and took 
up a new position at Island No. 10, on the 
Missi.ssi[)pi. As these important places and 
strongholds fell one after another in rajiid suc- 
cession, the amazement and i:ralific;ilion of 
the loyal people of the land was unbounded. 

When General Grani, was given an increased 
command on being advanced to the District of 
West Tennessee, General W. T. Sii«>rman was 
assigned to the district of Cairo, Grant's for- 
mer command. 

They had been at West Point together, 
Grant graduating three years later than Sher- 



32 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



man. After the fall of the rebel stronghold, 
the latter wrote congratulating the successful 
soldier on his victory, to which Grant replied : 
" I feel under many obligations to you for 
the kind terms of your letter, and hope, should 
an opjwrtunity occur, you will earn for your- 
self that promotion which you are kind 
enough to say belongs to me. I care nothing 
for promotion, so long as our arms are suc- 
cessful, and no political appointments are 
made." " This was," says Badeau, " the be- 
ginning of a friendship, destined thereafter 
never to flag, to stand the test of apparent riv- 
alry and public censure, to remain firm under 
trials such as few friendships were ever sub- 
jected to ; to become wamer as often as it was 
sought to be interrupted, and in houis of ex- 
traordinary anxiety and responsibility and 
care to afford a solace and a support that 
were never lacking when the need arose." 

On the 27th of February, Grant went to 
Nashville to" consult with General Buell about 
the disposition of their troops, the jurisdiction 
of the two commanders having become con- 
fused during the recent movements, and the 
former General having ordered a portion of 
Grant's army to join him at Nashville. 

March 1st came orders from General Ilal- 
leck to move his whole force back from the 
Cumberland to the Tennessee, with a view lo 
an expedition up the latter river to Eastport 
and Corinth, Mississippi. On the 4ih, he be- 
ing at Fort Henry, and his troops moving for- 
ward. Grant received orders from Halleck to 
place General C. F. Smith in command of the 
expedition, and to remain himself at Fort Hen- 
ry. To ihis he replied the day following, that 
the troops would be sent forward as directed. 
Smith, therefore, assumed command of the 
troops in the field, and selected Pittsburg 
Landing as a base of operations against Cor- 
inth, a position of great im{)ortance, and the 
key to the whole railway system of commu- 
nication between the Slates of Tennessee and 
Mississippi ; it was twen y miles distant from 
the rebel position, on the west side of the 
Tennessee, and was flanked on the left by a 
deep ravine, and on both flanks by the Snake 
and Lick creeks, which would compel the 
rebels to attack in front, the distance between 
tlie creeks being three miles. The Landing 
was protected by the gunboats Lexington and 
Tyler, and Buell's army of the Ohio, moving 
forward, was to reinforce the army of the 
Tennessee, 



Grant having asked to be relieved from fur- 
ther duty in General Halleck's Department, 
owing to his having taken exception to some 
of his acts, the latter officer replied : " You 
cannot be relieved from your command. 
There is no good reason for it. I am certain 
that all the authorities at Washington ask, is, 
that you enforce discipline and punish the 
disorderly. Instead of relieving you, I wish 
you, as soon as your new army is in tlie field, 
to assume the immediate command, and lead 
it on to new victories." On the 13th of 
March, Grant was relieved from his disgrace, 
and on the 17th removed his headquarters 
from Fort Henry to Savannah, resuming com- 
mand of the troops in his district. A few 
days later General Halleck transmitted to 
him copies of the following correspondence : 

Headqttatitf.es of the Army, "i 

Adjdtant-Ueneual's Office, Washington, 5 

March 10, ;s(ii. ) 

Major-Geneeal n. W. Halleck, U. S. A., Com- 
manding Dep.artment of the Mississippi. 
It has been reported that soon after the battle of 
Fort Donelson, Brigadier-General Grant left his com- 
mand without leave. By direction of the President, 
the Secretary of War directs you to ascertain and re- 
port, whether General Grant left his command at any 
time without proper authority, and if so, loi how 
long ; whether he has made to you proper reports 
and returns of his forces ; whether he has committed 
any acts which were unauthorized, or not in accord- 
ance with military subordination or propriety, and 
if so, what. 

L. Thomas, Adjutant-General. 

Brigadier-Genekal L. Thomas, Adjutant-General 
of the Army, Washington : 
In accordance with your instructions of the 10th 
inst., I report that General Grant and several ofBcers 
of high rank in his command, immediately after the 
battle of Fort Donelson, went to Nasliville, without 
my authority or knowledge. I am satisfied, liowevei", 
from investigation, that General Grant did this from 
good intentions, and from a desire to subserve the 
public interests. Not being advised of General Bu- 
ell's movements, and learning that General Buell had 
ordered Smith's division of his (Grant s) command to 
go to Nashville, he deemed it his duty to gc tliere in 
person. During the absence of General Grant, and 
a part of his general officers, numerous irregularities 
are said to have occurred at Fort Donelson. These 
were in violation of the ordei-s issued by General 
Grant before leaving, and probably under the circum- 
stances were unavoidable. General Grant has made 
the proper explanations, and has been directed tc re- 
sume his command in the field ; as he acted from a 
praiseworthy although mistaken zeal Ibi the public 
service, in going to Nashville, and leaving his com- 
mand, I respectfully recommend that no f urthei no- 
tice be taken of it. There never has been any want 
of military subordination on the part of General 
Grant, and his failure to make returns ot his forces 
has been explained, as resulting partly from the fail- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



83 



ure of colonels of regiments to report to him on their 
arrival, and partly from an interruption of tele- 
graphic communication. All these irregularities 
have now been remedied. H. W. Halleck, 

Major-General. 

From Savannah, Grant wrote to Slie.nian : 
"I have just arrived, and although sick for 
the last two weeks, begin to feel better at the 
thought of being again with the troops ;" and 
within an hour of his arrival, issued orders 
for a concentration of all our forces at Pitts- 
burg Landing. The army then consisted of 
five divisions under Major-Generals Smith and 
McCiernand, and Brigadier-Generals Siiernian, 
Hurlbut, and Lewis Wallace, the latter sta- 
tioned at Crump's Landing, on tiie left bank of 
the river, about five miles below ; and being 
considered within supporting distance were left 
to guard the Purdy road. Smith's and Mc- 
Clernand's divisions were pushed forward from 
Savannah, so that all our forces were soon 
collected together at Pittsburg Landing. 
Grant remained at Savannah to superintend 
the organization of the troops constantly ar- 
riving, vvliich were formed into another division 
— the sixth — and Brigadier-General Prentiss 
assigned to its command which was at once sent 
to join the army at Pittsburg. Another mo- 
tive for his remaining at Savannah was, that 
he could communicate more readily with Gen- 
eral Buell, who was moving forward from 
Nashville to join Grant; the army of the Ohio 
having been transferred to Halleck's Depart- 
ment, to enable the Nortliern troo;)S to meet 
on equal terms the large force that was as- 
sembling for the defence of Corinth, estimat- 
ed as high as one hundred thousand men. 
Bragg's corps had been brought from Mobile, 
and Pensacola ; Bishop Polk had come from 
Island No. 10, with a portion of his troops ; 
Johnston had marched there after evacuating 
Nashville ; and other rebel troops had rendez- 
voused from various quarters, including Har- 
dee's coi'ps and Breckinridge's command. It 
was also confidently expecti'd that they would 
be reinforced by the trans-Mississippi armies 
of Price and Van Dorn. The object of this 
vast assemblage, was not only to protect Cor- 
inth, but to crush Grant's army, before it 
should be reinforced by Buell. While Beau- 
regard was the real leader, General Albert Sid- 
ney Johnston was the ostensible commander, 
by whom the following stirring nroclamation 
was issued on the 3d of April, addressed to 
the soldiers of the armv of the Mississippi : 

" I have put you in motion to offer battle to the 



invaders of your country, with the icsolntion and 
iiscipline and valor becoming mi.ii tlghtiug, on you 
are, for all worth hving for. You can but march to 
a decisive victory over agrarian miTceuaries, sent to 
subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, proper- 
ty and honor. Eemomber the prt,-ciuu8 stake in- 
volved remember the dep<,-ndencc of your mothers, 
your wives, your sisters, and yijur chddren, on the re- 
sult. Kcmcmber the fair, broad, abounding land.'*, the 
happy homes, that will be desolated by your defeat. 
The eyes and hopes of eight millions of people rest 
upon you. You are expected to show youT»elvcs 
worthy of your valor and courage, worthy of the ar- 
mies of tlie South, whose noble devotion in this war, 
has never been exceeded in any time. With such 
incentives to bravo deeds, and with trust that God in 
with us, your general will lead you confidently to the 
combat, assured of succobs." 

The battle-field of Shiioh, or Pittsburg, for 
by both names it appears to be equallj- known, 
extends back three miles from the Landing. 
It is a thickly- wooded and broken country, 
interspersed with patches of cultivation, and 
a few rude buildings, among wiiich stood near 
the junction of the Corinth and Purdy roads, 
the Shiioh church, a primitive fane, con- 
structed of logs, from which the sanguinary 
field was named by our Southern foes. The 
Union army faced mainly to the south and west, 
the line extending from Lick creek on the 
south, to Snake creek on the north ; Sherman 
on the right, somewhat in advance, and across 
the main Corinth road ; on his left, but some- 
what retired, McCiernand s command was 
posted ; next, Prentiss was advanc 'd, and on 
his left, commanding a detached brigade of 
Sherman's division, and covering tiio crossing 
of Lick creek, was Stuart. Suiilirs division, 
commanded by W. II. L Wallace, the gallant 
old soldier being on a si bed at Savannah, 
was with Ilurlbut's comn)^ id to tiie rear, and 
near the Lauding, acting i reserves, and re- 
spectively supporting thf ,ht and left wings 
of the army. The sixth division, under Lewis 
Wallace, was at Crump's Landing, his troops 
being stretched out on the Puidy road, so as 
to be in readiness for a movement to Pitlsburg 
or Purdy, as circumstances might reipiire. 
Buell was " hastening slowly," his advance 
under Nelson having reached Savannah, and 
been ordered by General Grant to move to 
the river bank, opposite Piltsburg, on the 
morning of the sixth, and it was confidently 
expected that Buell's entire command would 
arrive during the day. 

On Sunday morning, April 6th, while Gen- 
eral Grant and his staff were breakfasting, at 
an unusually early hour, and their horses were 



34 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



saddled preparatory to riding out from Savan- 
nah in search of Biiell ; lieavy firing was heard 
from the direction of Pittsburg, only six miles 
distant in a direct line. There had been con- 
siderable sliirmishing with desultory firing for 
seveial days, but the practiced ear of Grant 
at once detected in the sounds that reached 
him, unmistakable evidences of a battle, and 
immediately went on board a transport, and 
started for Pittsburg after sending a note in 
these words to the commander of the army 
of the Ohio : " Heavy firing is heard up the 
river, indicating plainly that an attack has been 
made upon our most advanced positions. I 
have been looking for this, but did not believe 
the attack could be made before Monday or 
Tuesday. This necessitates my joining the 
forces up the river, instead of meeting you to- 
day as I had contemplated. I have directed 
General Nelson to move up the river with his 
division. He can march to opposite Pittsburg. 
On his way up the river, Grant stopped at 
Crump's Landing and notified General 'Wal- 
lace in person to be ready to move at a mo- 
ment's warning, to support the main anny, or 
if the attack there should be but a feint, to de- 
fend himself until reinforcements should ar- 
rive, in the event of the enemy moving against 
him, on the Purdy road. Grant then proceed- 
ed to Pittsburg, arriving there between eight 
and nine o'clock, and at once rode to the front. 
It was in good time that he arrived, for a 
fierce and bloody battle was being fought, 
which was putting to the test the manhood of 
the men of the North, partially surprised, and 
overwhelmingly outnumbered, as they were — 
fifty thousand against thirty-three thousand, 
many of whom were raw troops. Grant, as 
soon as he saw the state of affairs, sent im- 
perative orders to Nelson and Wallace, to ad- 
vance with all possible speed ; a staff officer 
being sent to 'Wallace, directing hira to march 
by the river road, while to Nelson he wrote : 
" You will hurry up your command as fast as 
possible. The boats will be in readiness to 
transport all troops of your command across 
the river. AH looks well, but it is necessary 
for you to push forward as fast as possible." 

The battle of Shiloh, the severest struggle 
of the war, unless it was exceeded by the 
fierce battle of the 'Wilderness, was fought on 
a clear, sunny, spring day. The onset was 
made not on a sleeping army, as has been too 
often represented, but upon troops who were 
in a measure prepared. " It was well known," 



says the lamented McPherson, " that the 
enemy were approaching our lines, and there 
had been more or less skirmishing for three 
<lays preceding the battle. Tlie coii-seiiuence 
was, our breakfasts were ordered at an earlj' 
hour, and our horses saddled, to be ready in 
case of attack." The storm first burst 
upon Prentiss, who having doubled his guards 
the night before, and that morning sent out 
Colonel Moore with a detachment of five com- 
panies to reconnoitre, had timely notice of the 
enemy's approach, and drew up his division in 
advance of its camps, and then received the 
first impetuous attack of the rebels. Sher- 
man next felt the shock, and the tide of battle 
soon swept along the whole Union line. Pren- 
tiss' raw troops were fqrced back with the 
loss of some guns, but took up a new position 
inside their camps, and were splendidly rein- 
forced by Ilurlbut. Sherman was also com- 
pelled to fall back until supported by McCler- 
nand ; while our left and centre, where the as- 
sault was fiercest, was strengthened by the 
troops of W. II. L. Wallace, and Lewis Wal- 
lace was directed to connect with Sherman's 
right, but never came. Before ten a. m., 
when our troops were sturbbornly contesting 
their ground, and the battle was raging fierc- 
est. Grant appeared at the front, and by his 
presence and personal valor did much to re- 
store the courage of the army. She man says 
in a letter that Grant was early on the field ; 
that he visited his division in person, about 
ten A. M., w'hen the battle raged fiercest, ap- 
proved of his stubborn resistance to the ene- 
my, and in answer to his impiiry concerning 
cartridges, told him he had anticipated their 
want, and given orders accordingly, and re- 
marking that his presence was more needed 
over at the left, rode off to encourage the 
hardly pressed ranks of McClernand's and 
Ilurlbut's divisions. 

Grant next appeared near the centre, and 
thence passed along to the left, encouraging by 
his words and example, and giving orders to the 
division commanders. He was also engaged 
in sending deserters back to their commands, 
and in organizing new lines with those who 
had straggled too far to regain their own com- 
mands. Even when on that hotly contested 
field, and constantly under fire. Grant was to 
be seen making unwearied exertions to main- 
tain his position until Wallace and Nelson 
should arrive with the long-looked-for rein- 
forcements to our sorely tried army. As 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



35 



Wellington longed for night or Blucher, so did 
Grant anxiously await the arrival of night or 
Bnell. 

During the morning Grant sent an order to 
another of Buell's division commanders, who 
he learned had arrived at Savannah : " You 
will move your command with the utmost dis- 
patch to the river at tliis point, where steam- 
boats will be in readiness to transport you to 
Pittsburg." And still later another dispatch 
was sent to the commanding officer of the 
advanced forces from Buell's army near 
Pittsburg : " The attack on my forces has 
been very spirited from early this morning. 
The appearance of fresh troops in the field 
now would have a jiowerful effect, both by 
inspiring our men and disheartening the ene- 
my. If you will get U[)on the field, leaving 
all your baggage on tlie east bank of the river, 
it will be more to our advantage, and proba- 
bly save the day to us. The rebel forces are 
estimated at over one hundred thousand men. 
My headquarters will be in tlie log building 
on the top of the hill, where you will be fur- 
nished a staff officer to guide you to your place 
on the fieLl." About tln-ee o'clock Buell ar- 
rived in advance of his troops, having hur- 
ried forward with his staff, on hearing, at 
Savannah, of the terrible battle that was be- 
ing fought. As the two generals were con- 
sulting together at the Landing, Buell inquir- 
ed : " What proparalions have you made for 
retreating?" when Grant replied: "I have 
not despaired of whipping them yet ! " 

At last the Union line is reduced to a mile 
in length, in a curve at the landing ; it is a 
forced concentration, but it really consolidates 
what is left of our exhausted army. At this 
time the rebels — equally worn out with ten 
hours' continuous marciiing and fighting — are 
brought to a stand by the reserve artillery, 
and the heavy fire of the gunboats Tyler and 
Lexington, who shell the woods and sweep 
the ravine, enfilading the rebel lines and bat- 
teries. 

About five p. M., continues Sherman, " be- 
fore the sun set, General Grant came again to 
me, and after hearing my report of matters, 
explained to me the situation of affairs on the 
left, which was not as favorable ; still the en- 
emy had failed to reach the landing of the 
boats. We agreed that the enemy had expend- 
ed i\\e furore of his attack, and we estimated our 
loss, and approximated our then strength, in- 
cluding Lewis Wallace's fresh division, expect- 



ed every minute. He then ordered me to 
get all things ready, and at daybreak tlie next 
day to assume tlie offensive. Tiiat was before 
General Buell liad arrived, but he was known 
to be near at hand. General Bueiis troops 
took no essential part in the first d'ay's fight, 
and Grant's army, though collected hastily 
together, green as militia, some regiments ar- 
riving witliout cartridges even, and nearly all 
hearing the dread sound of battle for tiie first 
time, had successfully withstood and rpjjelled 
the first day's terrific onset of a .sujjerior 
army, well commanded and well handled. 
I knew I had orders from General Grant to 
assume the offensive before I knew General 
Buell was on the west side of the Tennessee 
* * I understood Grant's forces were to ad- 
vance on the west side of the Corinth road, 
and Buell on the left (this was on Monday), 
and accordingly at daylight I advanced my 
division by tlie flank, the resistance being 
trivial, up to the very spot where tlie day be- 
fore the battle had b. en most severe, and 
there waited until near noon for Buell's troops 
to get up abreast, when the entire line advanc- 
ed and recovered all the ground we had ever 
held. I knew that with the exception of one 
or two severe struggles, the fighting of April 
7th was easy as compared with that of April 
6th. I never was disposed, nor am I now, 
to question anything done by General Buell 
and his army, and know that, ap])roaching 
our field of battle from the rear, he encounter- 
ed that sickening crowd of stragglers and fu- 
gitives, that excited his contempt and that of 
his army, who never gave full credit to those 
in the front line who did fight hard, and who 
had, at four p. m., checked the enemy and 
were preparing the next day to assifiiie the 
offerfive." 

At four o'clock, on Sunday afternoon, the 
time when the sanguariary contest may be 
said to have ceased, the head of Nelson's 
division of Buell's army arrived on the 
field, and took up a position on our left, while 
Wallace's division, from Crump's Landing, 
which had been six hours marching five miles, 
came on the ground at the same time, and 
took up a position on Sherman's right. Al- 
though the fighting was substantially over for 
the day, their arrival on the field had a no- 
ticeably good effect upon our worn-out and 
somewhat dispirited troops. Before midnight 
twenty-five thousand fresh troops had cross- 
ed the river and taken position on the left of 



36 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Grant's army, being placed there by Buell, 
who received his orders from Grant. Having 
made ail his dispositions for the second day's 
battle, and said to his staff, " Well, it was 
tough work to-day, but we'll beat them out of 
their boots to-morrow," the weary soldier of 
invincible determination lay down after twelve 
, o'clock, to get a few hours' sleep before the 
dawn of the coming day. 
' When the battle was begun at an early 
hour on Monday the Union line was formed as 
follows : Nelson on the extreme left, then in 
order Crittenden, McCook, Hurlbut, McCler- 
nand, Sherman, and Lewis Wallace, what was 
left of Prentiss' and W. H. L. Wallace's di- 
visions being divided among the other com- 
manders of the array of the Tennessee. Nel- 
son was first attacked as he was himself ad- 
vancing to attack ; next the centre came into 
action, and ere long the whole Union line was 
engaged. The accession of Buell's army, near- 
ly doubling our effective force, told at once, and 
the rebels were soon forced to give ground. 
The enemy made fierce attacks upon our left, 
with the vain hope of gaining the Landing, 
the prize almost within their grasp at the close 
of Sunday's action, but were gallantly repuls- 
ed by Nelson, who at length drove the rebels 
back, their whole line being gradually forced 
back till all the lost ground was regained. 
By four o'clock Beauregard saw the useless- 
ness of any further efforts, and reluctantly 
gave orders for the army to retreat. Our 
troops, worn out with two days' continuous 
fighting, and Buell'.: command also much ex- 
hausted by Sunday's marching and Monday's 
conflict, were in no condition to make a very 
vigorous pursuit, and the Union army encamp- 
ed that night on substantially the same ground 
it had occupied before the Waterloo of the 
Western campaign. The baffled Beauregard, 
who on the night of the 5th had sworn " that 
the next day he would water his horse in 
Tennessee or in hell," fell back with his beaten 
and discomfited array to Cornilh, without 
having performed tlie promise, or crushed 
Grant, as he vaingloriously threatened.' On the 
8th he applied to the Union commander, under 
a flag of truce, for permLssion to bury his dead, 
but that duty had been already performed 
for friend and foe alike. 

Grant's loss, including that of Buell's army, 
was twelve thousand two hundred and seven- 
teen, while the enemy's loss was unquestion- 
ably much greater, notwithstanding Beaure- 



gard's report, in which it is officially stated 
as being but ten thousand six hundred and 
twenty-eight. The rebels lost their nominal 
leader, Albert Sidney Johnson, killed in the 
first day's fight, while we had to mom-n the 
loss of W. II. L. Wallace and the capture of 
Prentiss, who, unwilling to fall back, although 
the line had retreated on each side of him, 
leaving his flanks exposed and in the air, 
was surrounded, and with four regiments 
of his command taken prisoners. 

We could fill a volume wiih the relation of 
heroic deeds and interesting incidents of the 
battle of Shiloh ; with descriptions of the suf- 
ferings of the sick and wounded, and with 
accounts of the shocking scenes and sights of 
that Golgotha, but the scope of this biography 
does not permit ns to devote much space to 
these topics. Many amusing occurrences also 
took place even amid the carnage and de- 
struction of a tremendous conflict ; as when 
an officer hurriedly rode up to an aid, during 
the first day's fight, and inquired for Grant. 
" That's him with the field-glass," said the 
staff-officer. Wheeling his horse about sud- 
denly, he rode forward to the general, and 
touching his cap, thus addressed him : 

" Sheneral, I vants to make one report ; 
Schwartz's battery is took." 

" Ah ! " said the general, " how was that 1 " 
"Veil, you see, sheneral, de sheshenists 
come up in front of us, and de sheshenists 
flanked us, and de sheshenists come in de 
rear of us, and Schwartz's battery was took." 
" Well, sir, you of course spiked the guns 1 " 
said Grant. 

"Vat!" exclaimed the German in aston- 
ishment, " schpike dem guns ! schpike dem 
new guns ! no ; it would schpoil dem ! " 

' Well," said the general, sharply, " what 
did you do 1 " 

" Do 1 vy, we took dem back again ! " 
During Sunday's sanguinary fighting, a 
middle-aged man, without coat or hat, was 
observt-d by a general officer standing behind 
the shelter of a tree, loading and firing with 
as much coolness as if he were shooting 
squirrels in lieu of " secesh." He had evi- 
dently seceded from his company and regi- 
ment, if be ever belonged to one, and was 
fighting on his own account. He would raise 
his gun, take deliberate aim, and fire, eagerly 
watching the result. If successful in bring- 
ing down one of the enemy, he made a mark 
on his cartridge-box with a piece of chalk. 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



37 



Three limes he was seen to discharge his 
unerring rifle witli tiie same result, and eacli 
time the modern Leatherstocliing endorse' 1 
one on ills account. A moment after a shell 
struck the tree, crasliing througli the Irunlc, 
instantly killing the collected and unerring 
rifleman. The following Tuesday, when the 
dead were buried, his body was found, witli 
one hand still grasping the fatal 'rifle, and his 
cartridge-box, on wliich his chalk marks were 
visible, by his side. lie lies interred at the 
foot of the tree, in a nameless grave, and his 
gun, which was the messenger of death to his 
enemies on that memorable Sunday, now hangs 
in a Northern library, with other war trophies, 
as a memento of the battle-field of Shiloh. 

In the country around Pittsburg Landing, 
the enclosures are all the old Virginia snake 
fence, in the angle of which a person may 
sit and be supported on both sides. In such 
an angle, and with Iiis feet braced against a 
small tree, sat a man apparently thirty or thir- 
ty-five years of age, bolt upright, and gazing 
at a locket in his hand. Approaching nearer 
it was discovered that he was dead and rigid ; 
his stiffened leefc so braced against the tree, 
that he could not fall forward, and the fence 
supporting. liina behind on each side. His eyes 
were open, and fixed with a horrible stony 
stare, on the daguerreotype, wiiich was held 
in both hands. In a hasty glance over his 
shoulder, it was seen that the picture was that 
of a woman and child, the wife and daughter, 
doubtless, of the dead man, upon whom the 
eyes of the husband and father had not, even 
in death, ceased to gaze. In vain would that 
wife and chiM watch and wait, in their dis- 
tant Alabama home, for the soldier's return. 
Like the rifleman, he now sleeps in a nameless 
grave, and his hands still grasp the counterfeit 
presentment of the broken-hearted wife and 
orphaned child. 

A week after the battle, while out with a re- 
connoitering party on the Corinth road, we 
came suddenly upon one of the most shocking 
sights we ever beheld. Just over the crest of 
a hill, on the slo{)ing bank of a small stream, 
some thirty yards distant fiom the highway, 
we saw about twenty rebel soldierslying dead 
on the ground, several so black in the face 
that we mistook them for negroes until, upon 
closer examination, we were undeceived by 
the color of their hair and hands. They were 
in such a frightful condition, that it was im- 



should have thrown some of the numerous ar- 
ticles of clothing lying around, over their 
faces. Orders had been issued by General 
Grant for the burial of all the dead of both 
armies, but these jjoor fellows, probably killed 
in the pursuit of Monday, had escaped the no- 
tice of the burial parties. Tliey were im- 
mediately interred when the facts were made 
known to the General on our return to camp. 
To resume. Grant began his disjiatches giv- 
ing an account of the conflict of Sliiloh in 
these words: "It becomes my duly again to 
report another battle, fought by two great 
armies, one contending for the best govern- 
ment ever desired, and the other for its de- 
struction. It is pleasant to record the suc- 
cess of tha army contending for the former 
princii>le," The news of this great contest 
spread like wildfire through the North. The 
telegram reached Washington, when a mem- 
ber, since and now speaker, asked leave to 
read it ; amid cheers on every side rose the 
cry : " To the clerk's desk," " To the clerk's 
desk." When Mr. Colfax had read the glad 
tidings, the breathless silence was suddenly 
broken by the most enthusiastic expressions 
of delight. A salute of one hundred guns 
was fired, and the hero was thanked by the 
War Department for his great victory. 

La Fontaine most truthfully says: •' Aucun 
chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la glorie.' 
Detraction was busy with its jioisonoua 
tooth. Grant was bitterly assailed, more bit- 
terly than before — as a " butcher," as " in- 
competent," as a "drunkard.' The Hon. E. 
B. Washburne, of Illinois, defended him from 
the detraction of his enemies on tin floor of 
Congress in the following eloquent ai d truth- 
ful words: 

" I come before the House to do a gi-cat r.rt of jus- 
tice to a soldier in the fleld, and to vindic i ' . Iiim trom 
the obloquy and misrepresentation so iiersistttntly and 
cruelly thrust before the country. I refer to a dis- 
tinguished general, who has recently fought the 
bloodiest and hardest battle ever fouglit on this con- 
tinent, and won one of the most brilliant victories. 
I mean the battle of Pittsburg Landing, and Major- 
Geiicral Ulysses S. Grant. Though but forty years 
old, ho has been oftener under Are, and botu in more , 
battles, than any other man living on this continent, 
excepting that great chieftain now reposing on his 
laurels and on the affections of his countrymen, Lieu- 
tenant-Gencral Scott. He was in every battle in 
ileiico that was possible for any one man to be in. 
He has received the baptismal of fire. No young offi- 
cer came out of the Mexican war with more distinc- 
tion than Grant, and the records of the War Depart- 
ment bear official testimony to his gallant and noble 



possible to approach them closely, or we ' deeds. He resigned in 1855, and afterward settled in 



38 



LIEE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT.. 



Galena, in the district I have the honor to represent 
on this door. 

" I came here to speak as an lUinoisian, proud of his 
noble ana patriotic State ; proud of its great history 
now being made up ; proud, above all earthly things, 
ol hei brave soldiers, who are shedding their blood 
upon all the battle fields of the Republic. If the 
laurels of Grant shall ever be Withered, it will not be 
done by the Illinois soldiers who have foUowered his 
victorious banner. 

" But to the victory at Pittsburg Landing, which 
has called forth such a flood of denunciation upon 
General Grant. When we consider the charges of 
tad generalship, incompetency, and surprise, do we 
not feel that ' even the joy ot the people is cruel ' 1 
As to the question whether there was, or not, what 
might be called a surprise, I will not argue it ; but 
even il there had been. General Grant is nowise re- 
sponsible foi it, for he was not surprised. He was at 
his headquarters at Savannah, when the fight com- 
menced. Those headquarters were established there, 
as being the most convenient point for all parts of 
his command. Some of the troops were at Crump's 
Landins, between Savannah and Pittsburg, and all 
the new arrivals were coming to Savannah. That 
■was the propel place for the headquarters of the com- 
manding General at that time. The General visited 
Pittoburg Landing and all the important points every 
day. The attack was made Sunday morning by a 
vastly superior force. In five minutes atter the first 
firing was heard, General Grant and staff were on the 
way to the battle-field ; and, instead of not reaching 
the field till ten o'clock, or, as has been still more 
falsely represented, till noon, I have a letter before 
me from one of his aids who was with him, and who 
says he arrived there at eight o'clock in the morning 
and immediately assumed command. There he di- 
rected the movements, and was always on that part 
of the field where his presence was most required, ex- 
posing his life, and evincing, in his dispositions, the 
genius of the greatest commanders. With what des- 
perate bravery that battle of Sunday was fought ! 
what display of prowess and courage ! what prodigies 
of valor ! Our troops, less than forty thousand, at- 
tacked by more than eighty thousand of the picked 
men of the rebels, led by their most distinguished 
generals ! 

" There is no more temperate man in the army 
than General Grant. He never indulges in the use 
of intoxicating Uquors at all. He is an example of 
courage, honor, fortitude, activity, temperance, and 
modesty, for he is as modest as he is brave and incor- 
ruptible. To the bravery and fortitude of Lannes, 
he adds the stern republican simplicity of Guvion St. 
Cyr. It is almost vain to hope that full justice will 
ever be done to men who have been thus attacked. 
Truth is slow upon the heels of falsehood. It has 
been well said, that ' Falsehood will travel from 
Maine to Georgia while Truth is putting on its 
boots.' " 

As a fitting conclusion to this chapter, we 
append a beautiful poem, " The Old Sergeant 
of Shiloh," feeling sure that it will be alike 
■■ •welcome to those who have seen it, and those 
vho have not before had that pleasure. It 
^as written by Forceythe Wilson, and was 



distributed by the carriers of the Louisville 
Journal, on the first day of January, 1863 : 

The carrier cannot sing to-day the ballads 

With which he used to go 
Rhyming the grand rounds of the Happy New Tears 

That arc now beneath the snow : 

For the same awful and portentous shadow 

That overcast the earth. 
And smote the land last year with desolation, > 

Still darkens every hearth. 

And the carrier bears Beethoven's mighty dead- 
Come up from every mart, [march, 

And he hears and feels it breathing in his bosom, 
And beating in his heart. 

And to-day like a scared and weather-beaten veteran, 

Again he comes along, 
To teU the story of the Old Year's struggles, 

In another New Year's song. 

And the song is his, but not so with the story ; 

For the story, you must know, 
Was told in prose to Assistant-Surgeon Austin, 

By a soldier of Shiloh ; — 

By Robert Burton who was brought up on the Adams 
With his death-wound in his side. 

And who told the story to the Assistant-Surgeon 
On the same night that he died. 

But the singer feels it will better suit the ballad. 

If all should deem it right, 
To sing the story as if what it speaks of 

Had happened but last night. 

" Come a little nearer. Doctor. Thank you I let me 

take the cup 1 
Draw your chair up!— draw it closer— just another 

little sup ! 
Maybe you may think I'm better, but I'm pretty 

well used up — 
Doctor, you've done all you could do, but I'm just 

a going up. 

" Feel my pulse, sir, if you want to, but it is no use 

to try." 
" Never say that," said the Surgeon, as he smothered 

down a sigh ; 
" It will never do, old comrade, for a soldier to say 

die ! " 
" What you say will make no difference. Doctor, when 

you come to die. 

" Doctor, what has been the matter ? " " You were 

very faint they say ; 
You must try to get to sleep now." " Doctor, have I 

been away ? " 
" No, my venerable comrade " " Doctor, will you 

please to stay ? 
There is something I must tell you, and you wont 

have long to stay ! 

" I have got my marching orders, and am ready now 

to go ; 
Doctor, did you say I fainted ?— but it couldn't have 

been so — 
For as sure As Tm a Sergeant, and was wounded at 

Shiloh. 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OP GENERAL GRANT. 



39 



I've this very night been back there — on the old 
held ot Shiioh I 

" You may think it all delusion — all the sickness of 

the brain ; 
If you do, you are mistaken, and mistaken to my 

pain ; 
I'or upon my .lying hour, as I hope to live again, 
1 have just been back to Sliiloh, and allover it again ! 

" This is all that I remember ; the last time the 
Lighter came, 

And the lights had all been lowered, and the noises 
much the same, 

"We had not been gone five minutes,* before some- 
thing ailed my name — 

'Ordeuly— Sergeant — Robert — Burton ! '—just 
that way it called my name. 

" Then I thought, who could have called me, so dis- 
tinctly and so low — 

'T can't be the Lighter, surely; he could not have 
spoken so ; 

And I tried to answer, 'Here, sir!' but I couldn't 
make it go, 

For I couldn't move a muscle, and I couldn't make 
it go ! 

" Then I thought it all a nightmare — all a humbug 

and a bore ! 
It is just another grapevine, and it won't come any 

more ; 
But it came, sir, notwithstanding, just the same 

words as before, 
• Oederly -Sergeant— Robert — Burton ! ' more 

distinctly than before ! 

" That is all that I remember, till a sudden burst of 
light. 

And I stood beside the river, where we stood that 
Sunday night. 

Waiting to be ferried over to the dark blufifa oppo- 
site, 

When the river seemed perdition, and all hell seemed 
opposite ! 

" And the same old palpitation came again with all 

its power, 
And I heard a burgle sounding, as from heaven or a 

tower ; 
And the same mysterious voice said : ' It is the 

eleventh hour ! 
Orderly— Sergeant— Robert — Burton- it is th« 

eleventh hour ! ' 

" Dr. Austin '—what datj is this ? " " It is Wednes- 
day night, you know." 

" Yes ! to-morrow will be New Year's, and a right 
good time below ! 

What lime is it, Dr. Austin ? " " Nearly twelve." 
" Then don't you go ! 

Can it be that all this happened — all this — not an 
hour ago 1 

" There was where the gunboats opened on the dark, 

rebellious host. 
And where Webster semi-circled his last guns upon 

the coast- 
There were still the two log-houses, just the same, or 

else their ghost — 



And the same old transport came and took me over— 
or its ghost I 

" And the whole field lay before me, all deserted, fai 

and wide — 
There was where they fell on Prentiss ; there McClcr. 

nand met the tide ; 
There was wliere stern Sherman rallied, and where 

Hurlbut's heroes died — ' 
Lower down, where Wallace charged them, and kept 

charging till he died 1 

" There was where Lew Wallace showed he was of 

the canny kin- 
There was where Old Nelson thundered, and where 

Rousseau waded in— 
There McCook, ' sent them to breakfast,' and w« all 

began to win — 
There was where the grape shot took me just a» we 

began to win. 

" Now a shroud of snow and silence over everything 

was spread ; 
And but lor this old, blue mantle, and the old hat on 

my head, 
I should not have ever doublbd, to this moment, I 

was dead ; 
For my footsteps were as silent as the snow upon the 

dead ! 

" Death and silence ! Death and silence ! starry 
silence overhead I 

And behold a mighty tower, as if buildcd to the 
dead, 

To the heaven of the heavens, lifted up its mighty 
head ; 

Till the Stars and Stripes of heaven all seemed wav- 
ing from its h«ad I 

" Round and mighty-based, it towered — up into the 

infinite ! 
And I knew no mortal mason could have built a 

shaft so bright ; 
For it shone like solid sunshine ; and a winding stair 

of»light 
Wound around it, and around it, till it wound clear 

out of sight ! 

"And, behold, as I approached it with a rapt and 

dazzled stare — 
Thinking that I saw old comrades, just ascending the 

great stair ; 
Suddenly the solemn challenge broke of, ' Halt ! ' and 

' Who goes there ? ' 
' I'm a friend,' I said, ' if you are.' ' Then advance, 

sir, to the stair ! ' 

" I advanced— that sentry. Doctor, was Elijah Dal- 

lantyne — 
First of all to fall on Monday, after we had formed 

the line 
' Welcome I my old Sergeant, welcome ! Welcome 

by that countersign ! ' 
And he pointed to the scar there under this oloak of 

mine .' 

"As ho grasped my hand, I shuddered ; thinking 

only of the grrave — 
But he smiled, and pointed upward, with a bright 

and bloodless glare ; 



^0 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



' That's the way, sir/to headquarters ! ' ' What head- 
quarters V ' Of the brave ! ' 

' But the great tower l ' ' That was builded of the 
great deeds of the brave ! ' 

"Then a sudden shame came o'ei me at his uniform 

of light ; 
At my own, so old and tattered, and at his so new 

and bright ; 
' Ah '.' said he, ' you have forgotten the new uniform 

to-night ! 
Hurry back, tor you must be here at just twelve 

o'clock to-night ! ' 

" And the next thing I remember, you were sitting 

there, and I— 
Doctor ! it is hard to leave you. Hark : God bless 

you all ! Good bye ! 
Doctor ! please to give my musket and my knapsack, 

when I die, 
To my son — my son that's coming — he wont get 

here till I die ! 

" Tell him his old father blessed him, as he nevei did 

before ; 
And to carry that olamusket — ^Hark ! a knock is at 

the door !— 
" Till the Union — see ! it opens ! "— " Father ! fathei ! 

speak once more ! " — 
" Bless you ! " grasped the old, gfrey Sergeant, and 

he lay and said no more ! 

■WTten the Sui^on gave the heir-son the old Ser- 
geant's last advice — 

And his musket and his knapsack — how the fire 
flashed in his eyes ! 

He is on the march this morning, and wiU march on 
till he dies — 

He will save this bleeding country, or will fight until 
he dies J 



CHAPTER V. 

SEIGE OF COKINTH, 

HaReek assumes command— Grant under a cloud — 
Extiucts from the letters, written by the author at 
iShiloh— Advance of the Union army— Capture of 
Farmiugton— Siege of Corinth— Its evacuation — 
lueii'ectual pursuit of the enemy— Buell ordered to 
Chattanooga, Pope to Virginia, Grant to Memphis 
— Halleck made General-in-Chief — Offers com- 
mand of the Army of the Tennessee to a Colonel— 
He declines— Memphis a hot-bed of treason— Aid- 
ing the rebels— Stringent and statesmanlike csrders 
issued by Grant— Guerrillas— Smugglers— Negroes 
employed— Uuiet retreat — A sad incident. 
" I do not intend it shall keep me from fighting for 

our dear old flag, when the hour of battle comes." 
Gkant to his Father. 

On the 9tli of April, Henry Wager Halleck, 
the commanding general of the Depavtment, 
arrived at Pittsburg Landing and assumed 
command of the united armies of the Ten- 
nessee and Ohio, Grant and Buell each re- 



taining their respective commands under Hal- 
leck. After the fall of Island No. 10, Pope's 
forces, known as the army of the Mississippi, 
joined the troops assembled at Pittsburg, 
forming the left wing, with Buell in the cen- 
tre and Grant on the right, his command 
including almost as many troops as the centre 
and left wing combined. The united forces, 
being formed into two corps, commanded 
by McClernand and Thomas, known as the 
" Grand Army of the Tennessee," numbering 
nearly one hundred thousand men. 

Grant was nominally still in command of 
the Disti"ict of West Tennessee, including his 
old army, but was, in reality, in disgrace after 
the arrival of his superior oflicer. Although 
General Thomas, commanding the right, and 
McClernand the reserves, were his subordi- 
nates, orders were, contrary to military usages, 
sent directly to them, without Grant being 
made aware of their contents, and movements 
were executed by his own troops without his 
knowledge. All descriptions of injurious re- 
ports had been industriously spread abroad 
seriously affecting Giant's character as a 
soldier. Some of these generated, doubtless, 
from the army of the Ohio, who had wit- 
nessed the sickening crowd if panic-stricken 
fugitives at the Landing on the afternoon and 
evening of the first day's battle; others had 
gone abroad from newspaper correspondents, 
and some possibly from the soldiers of his 
own command, setting forth that the army 
was surprised, that Grant was intoxicated 
and absent from the field, and that he was 
totally incompetent to command an army. It 
is certainly true that Grant was universally 
considered at that time as under a cloud, if 
not absolutely in disgrace, even by his own 
troops. Five days after the battle, we wrote 
from Pittsburg Landing : " On General Hal- 
leck depends the future of our army in the 
Southwest; and on Buell rests the gloiy of 
saving it from utter annihilation." A few 
days later wj said in another letter : " Since 
the arrival of Halleck at Pittsburg, renewed 
confidence and spirit has been instilled in the 
army, which is being rapidly reorganized and 
prepared for another conflict. Fresh troops 
are constantly arriving, and in ten days the 
commanding general will have a well-equipjjed 
and efficient a my of one hundred tliousaud 
men with not less than two hundred i)iece3 
of artillery. Owing to the impassible condi- 
tion of the roads between Pittsburg and Cor- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



41 



inth, it is utterly impossible for the rebel 
army to make another attack upon our camp 
at present, consequently no anxiety need be 
felt for the safety of our army on the Tennes- 
see at this time, nor in its ability, under the 
command of Major-General Halleck, seconded 
by such men as Buell and Nelson, to capture 
Corinth, as soon as the army is again organ- 
ized, and the condition of the roads will admit 
of a forward movement." 

To those who still think that Grant risked 
too much by placing his troops on the west 
bank, and thus came so near total defeat be- 
fore the timely arrival of Buell, we can only 
quote from a letter of General Sherman : " If 
there was any error in putting that army on 
the west side of the Tennessee, exposed to the 
superior force «of the enemy, also assembling 
at Corinth, the mistake was not General 
Grant's. But there was no mistake. It was 
necessary that a combat, fierce and bitter, to 
test the manhood of two armies, should come 
off, and that was as good a place as any. It 
was not then a question of military skill and 
strategy, but of couiage and pluck; and I 
am convinced that any life lost that day to us 
was necessary ; for otherwise, at Corinth, at 
Memphis, at Vicksburg, we would have found 
harder resistance had we not shown our ene- 
mies that, rude and untutored as we then 
were, we could fight as well as they." 

Everything being in readiness, the army of 
the Tennessee reorganized in sixteen divisions, 
moved forward on the 30th of April, to drive 
Beauregard and the rebel forces from their 
strongly-fortified position at Corinth. Their 
exterior line was fifteen miles long, and at 
every road crossing there were either strong 
redoubts or batteries with massive epaulments ; 
while the troops under the rebd general's 
command numbered about seventy thousand, 
being at least forty thousand less than the 
army led by Halleck. On the third ot May, 
our advance had reached a point eight miles 
from Corinth, and the same day a portion of 
Pope's command captured Farmington, aban- 
doned after but slight resistance on the part 
of the rebel garrison, nearly five thousand 
strong. Our army mored forward slowly un- 
der Ilalleck's Fabian policy, using the spade 
for the first time in Western campaigning, no 
advance being made without entrenchments, 
as the cautious commander did not propose 
that the rebels should again steal upon us un- 
awares. Our army were anxious to push for- 



ward and try conclusion with Beauregard, 
whom we so largely outnumbered, but when 
Grant ventured while at head(iuarter8, and the 
subject of the evacuation of Corinth was being 
discussed, to recommend an immediate attack 
on the extreme right of the Union line where 
the enemy's ranks \v.ere weakened, to be fol- 
lowed by an assault along the whole line, his 
advice was scouted by Halleck, who suggested ' 
that Grant's opinions need not be oll'ered un- 
til asked for, and in accordance with tliis 
intimation he did not again during the siege 
obtrude them. It may be here remarked that 
after Corinth fell, and Grant had entered the 
rebel works, he satisfied himself beyond all 
doubt, that had the attack been made as he 
suggested, the place might have been taken 
and its army destroyed or captured. 

When the Union lines advanced towards 
Corinth, a battery was planted on an eminence 
commanding a considerable portion of the 
country, but completely shrouded from view 
by a dense thicket. Scouts were sent out to 
discover he exact position of the rebels, and 
were but a short distance in advance to give 
a signal as to the direction to fire, if any were 
discovered. 

One of the rebel commanders, unaware of 
the presence of the nationals, called around 
him a brigade, and commenced addressing 
them in something like the following : 

" Sons of the South, we are here to defend 
our homes, our wives and daughters, against 
the horde of Vandals who have come here to 
possess the first and violate the last. Here 
upon this sacred soil, we have assembled to 
drive back the Northern invaders— drive them 
into Tennessee. Will you follow me ] If 
we cannot hold this place, we can defend no 
spot of our Confederacy. Shall we drive the 
invaders back, and strike to death the men 
who would desecrate our homes 1 Is there a 
man so base among those who hear me as to 
retreat from the contemptible foe before us t 

I will never blanch before their fire, nor " 

At this interesting jieriod the signal was 
given, and six shells fell in the vicinity of the 
gallant officer and his men, who suddenly for- 
got their fiery resolves, and fled in confusion 
to their breastworks. 

By slow movements our combined forces 
gradually gained a position near Corinth, and 
on May "iSih three reconnoiterins columns, one 
from each army, were advanced by General 
Halleck. A vivid description of the stirring 



42 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



scene of such a period of army operations is 
contained in the following letter witten on the 
field : 

" Eegiments and artillery ara placed in position, 
and, generally, the cavalry is in advance ; but when 
the opposing forces are in close proximity, the infan- 
try does the work. The who» front is covered by a 
^ cloud of skirmishers, and then reserves formed, and 
then, in connection with the main line, they advance. 
For a moment, allis still as the grave to those in the 
backgi'ound : as the line moves on, the eye is strained 
in vain to follow the skirmishers as they creep silent- 
ly forward ; then, from some point of the line, a sin- 
gle riHe rings through the forest, sharp and clear, 
and, as if in echo, another answers it. In a moment 
more the whole line resounds with the din of arms. 
Here the fire is slow and steady, there it rattles with 
fearful rapidity ; and this, mingled with the great 
roar of the reserves as the skirmishers chance at any 
point to be driven in : and if, by reason of superior 
force, these reserves fall back to the main force, then 
every nook and comer seems full of sound. The 
batteries open their terrible voices, and their shells 
sing honibly while winging their Hight, and their 
dull explosion speaks plainly of death ; their canis- 
ter and grape go crashing through the trees, rifles 
ring, the muskets roar, and the din is terrific. Then 
the slackening of the fire denotes the withdrawing 
of the one party, and the more distant picket firing 
that the work was accomplished. The silence be- 
comes almost painful after such a scene as this, and 
no one can conceive of the effect who has not experi- 
enced it ; it cannot be described. The occasional tiring 
of the ijickets, which shows that the new lines are es- 
tablished, actually occasions a sense ot relief. The 
movements of the mind under such circumstances 
are sudden and strong. It awaits with intense anx- 
iety the opening of the contest ; it rises with the din 
of battle ; it sinks with the luU which follows it, and 
finds itself in fit condition to sympathize most deep- 
ly with the torn and bleeding ones that are fast be- 
ing borne to the rear. 

" When the ground is clear, then the time for work- 
ing parties has arrived ; and, as this is the descrip- 
tion of a real scene, let me premise that the works 
were to reach through the centre of a large open farm 
of at least three hundred acres, surrounded by woods, 
one side of it being occupied by rebel pickets. These 
had been driven back, as I have described. 

" The line of the works was selected, and, at the 
word of command, three thousand men, with axes, 
spades, and picks, stepped out into the open field 
ftom their cover in the woods. In almost as short a 
time as it takes to tell it, the fence rails which sur- 
rounded and divided three hundred acres into conve- 
nient farm lots were on the shoulders of the men, and 
on the way to the intended line of works. In a few 
moments more, a long line of crib work stretches 
over the slope of the hill, as if another anaconda 
fold had been twisted around the rebels. Then, as, 
for a time, the ditches deepen, the cribs fill up, the 
dirt is packed on the outer side, the bushes and all 
points of concealment are cleared from the front, and 
the centre divisions of our army had taken a long 
stride toward the rebel works. The siege guns are 
brought up and placed in commanding positions. A 
log house furnishes the hewn and seasoned timber for 



the platforms, and the plantation of a Southern lord 
has been thus speedily transformed into one of Uncle 
Sam's strongholds, where the ^tars and Stripes float 
proudly. Thus had the whole army worked itself up 
into the very teeth of the rebel works, and rested 
there on Thursday night, the 28th, expecting a gen- 
eral engagement at any moment. 

" Soon after daylight, on Friday morning, the army 
was startled by rax^id aud long-continued explosions, 
similar to musketry, but much louder. Tlio convic- 
tion flashed across my mind that the rebels were 
blowing up their loose ammunition, and leaving. 
The dense smoke arising in the direction of Corinth, 
strengthened this belief, and soon the whole army 
was advancing on a grand roconnoissauce. The dis- 
tance through the woods was short, and in a few 
minutes shouts arose from the rebel lines, which told 
that our army was in the enemy's trenches. Regi- 
ment alter regiment pressed on, and passing through 
extensive camps just vacated, soon reached Corinth, 
and found half of it in flames. Beauregard and 
Bragg had left the fifternoon befoi%, and the rear- 
guard had passed out of the town before daylight, 
leaving enough stragglers to commit many acts of 
vandalism, at the expense of private property. They 
burned churches and other public buildings, private 
goods, stores and dwellings, and choked up half the 
wells in town. In the camps immediately around 
the town, there were few evidences of hasty retreat ; 
but on the right flank, where Price and Van Doru 
were encamped, the destruction of baggage and 
stores was very great, showing precipitate flight. 
Portions of our army were immediately put in pur- 
suit." 

On the 30th of May, the army was drawn 
up in line of battle, awaiting the rebel onset, 
the comniiinding general having announced on 
the morning of May 30ih to liis command 
that, " There is every indication that the ene- 
my will attack our left, this morning ;" it was 
suddenly discovered that the birds were flown, 
leaving quaker guns, and barren defences, to 
impose upon us, as long as possible. The 
evacuation had been going on for two days, 
but it was not discovered until clouds of 
.'imoke and sheets of flame announced that 
Beauregard, before retreating, had fired the 
town. As his rear-guard moved out on the 
southern road, our advance moved in. Buell 
and Pope were sent in pursuit, but accom- 
plished little, and after a fruitless chase of 
ten days, were recalled to Corinth. The for- 
mer was soon after detached and sent to 
Chattanooga, Pope was ordered to Yirginia, 
and Grant established his headquarters at 
Memphis, captured, June 6th, after a brilliant 
naval combat on the Mississipi. 

On the 17th of July, General Halleck was 
assigned to the command of " the whole land 
forces of the United Slates as General-in- 
Chief," and immediately repaired to Washing- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



43 



ton, at tlie same time directing Grant to leave 
Memphis, and eslablisii his iieadquarters at 
Corinth. His jiuisdiclioa was not, however, 
enlarged by Halleck's promotion ; on the con- 
trar)', as we learn tVom the following letter, 
the new General-in-cliief first offered tlie com- 
mand of tiie army of the Tennessee — not to 
Buell, or Thomas, or Sherman, or Nelson, or 
McClernand, but to Colonel Robert Allen, a 
quartermaster, who declined it ; whereupon 
Grant was permitted to retain the command. 
Allen's letter, dated July 9, 1866, giving an 
account of the manner in which the position 
was offered to him, is as follows : " I had 
joined General Halleck a short time subse- 
quent to the fall of Corinth, and was attached 
to his immediate command, when he received 
the appointment of Geiieral-in-chief, with or- 
ders to repair at once to Washington. Shortly 
after, he came to my tent. * * * After a 
somewhat protracted conversation, he turned 
to me and said : ' Now what can I do for you, ?' 
I replied, that I did not know that he could 
do anything. ' Yes,' he rejoined, ' I can give 
you command of this arm}'.' I replied, ' I 
have not rank.' ' That,' said he, ' can e.-xsily be 
obtained.' I do not remember exactly what 
ray reply was to this, but it was to the eflfect 
that I doubted the expediency of such a meas- 
ure, identified as I was with the enormous bu- 
siness and expenditures of the quartermaster's 
department, from which it was almost im- 
practicable to relieve me at that time. Other 
reasons were mentioned, and he did not press 
the subject. It is true that I was congratu- 
lated on the prospect of succeeding to the 
command, before 1 had mentioned the subjeot 
of this interview." 

General Grant made his headquarters for a 
time at Memphis, which, with its swarms of 
craftysecessionists, speculators, gamblers, and 
unprincipled Jewish traders, bid fair to be of 
more value to the rebels, when in possession 
of the Union forces, than when held by the 
insurgents themselves, inasmuch as every- 
thing in the way of supplies which the enemy 
needed, was smuggled through the lines to 
them. This business was carried on in good 
part by Jews, desperate for gain, who often 
succeeded in passing our pickets under cover 
of night. Many a midnight chase has the 
writer, and the cavalry regiment he had the 
honor to command, had after the Memphis 
smugglers, and many an ambulance, drawn by 
a pair of horses or mules, and loaded down 



with well-filled trunks, containing medicine 
and other contraband articles, did the Iroop- 
ei-s of the Fifteenth Illinois capture, which 
were endeavoring to escape to the Confede- 
rates, after evading the pickets posted around 
Memphis. Grant issued various stringent or- 
ders regarding slaves, trea.sonable traders, and 
guerrillas — all clear and sutesmanlike. 

The disposition made of fugitive negroes 
was practical — they were put to useful em- 
ployment, and kindly treatel, while awaiting 
the further action of the government concern- 
ing them. This was before the country had 
been educated to the propriety of ])iitting 
guns in their hands. The illicit tralBc was 
gradually broken up, and Memphis cea.sed to 
be a base of supplies for the rebels ; disloyal 
utterances by the press were discontinued ; 
and quiet and order reigned in the Egyptian- 
named city under the wise and state-smaulike 
rule of General Grant. 

No observant person serving in the army 
could avoid meeting with many sad scenes, 
but the brief incident we are about to narrate 
affected the writer more than the sight of the 
carnage of a battle-field. A few niiles out 
of Memphis was the beautiful residence of a 
wealthy lawyer named L . On iiis plan- 
tation was encamped a brigade of our troops, 
and it was deemed a military necessity that 
the grand old elms and oaks should be cut 
down. As the rebel owner, not'./lthsianding 
his appeals that his trees might be spared, 
saw them falling around him until not a 
single one was left, his miml was so affected 
that his reason gradually gave way, and he 
become a hopeless idiot. Wheu the writer 
asked the brigade commander why he could 
not have spared the trees, his answer was 
brief— but four words—-" 'Twas a miliury 
necessity." 



CHAPTER VI. 

tPKA, COBINTH AND THE HATCHIE. 

Military situation ia September, 18G2- Trice seizes 
luka— Grant decides to drive him out— lie does it 
—Battle described— Rebels advance on Corinth — 
Prepanitions for defence— Grant's BtraU?gy— Battle 
of Corinth— Eosecrans falls biwk from advanced 
positions— Desperate fightingr-Final victory Reb- 
els retreat— Defeated at the Hatrhie— Grant's 
report— Letter from 3Ir. Lincoln— How does it all 



44 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



sum up ?— A wife's letter— The eagle of Corinth— 
llosecrans relieved aud promoted— Grant's com- 
mand enlarged. 

" I wish all our generals would drink Grant's whis- 
key." 

Pbesident Lincoln to Grant's defamebs. 

From the month of June till September, 
there was but little fighting in the Depart- 
ment of the Tennessee, and Grant gave his at- 
tention, as already indicated in the previous 
chapter, to what might be termed the civil af- 
fairs of his extensive command, by no means 
light or easy labors, and more particulai'ly 
to the administration of Memphis matters. 
With his weakened forces, for every man that 
it was thought possible to take from him had 
been sent to Buell, he was only able to act 
on the defensive, which he did with great suc- 
cess, as we shall presently set forth. Grant's 
dispatches at this time bear testimony to the 
constant anxiety the insurgents occasioned 
him, and to the necessity of sleepless vigi- 
lance. September 9th he said : " Siiould the 
enemy come I will be as ready as possible with 
the means at hand. I do not believe that a 
force can be brought against us at present that 
cannot be successfully resisted." Four days 
later, Price advanced boldly from the South 
with a force of twelve thousand, and seized 
luka, together with a large quantity of milita- 
ry stores, which colonel Murphy, in his haste 
to escape, had neglected to destroy, notwith- 
standing that he was left behind for that spe- 
cial purpose. On the 13th, Grant telegraphed 
to Halleck, " If I can, I will attack Price be- 
fore he crosses Bear Creek. If he can be 
beaten there, it will prevent the design either 
to go North, or to unite forces and attack 
here." 

Later in the afternoon, our troops under 
the immediate command of General Rose- 
crans attacked luka, and after a severe battle 
of several hours, night put an end to the 
carnage, the rebels still holding the town. 
At half-past nine Rosecrans sent the follow- 
ing dispatch to Grant : " We met the enemy 
in force just above this point. The engage- 
ment lasted several hours. We have lost two 
or three pieces of artillery. Firing was very 
heavy. You must attack in the morning and 
in force. The ground is horrid, imknown to 
us, and no room for development, couldn't 
use our artillery at all, fired but few shots. 
Push in on them until we can have time to do 
something. We will try to get a position on 



our right which will take luka." It was un- 
necessary, for during the night the discomfit- 
ed Price evacuated the town, retreating by 
the only avenue left open for his escape, and 
joined Van Dorn and Lovell in Tippah county, 
Mississippi ; when the united rebel armies 
moved forward to repossess themselves of 
Corinth, and drive Grant out of Western Ten- 
nessee. 

An intercepted letter gave the following 
description of the battle of the 19th, in which 
the rebel writer admits tliat Price was most 
signally defeated : 

" "We held peaceable possession of luka for one day, 
and on the ne.xt, were alarmed by the booming of . 
cannon, and were called out to spend the evening in 
battle array in the woods. On the evening of the 
19th, when we supposed we were goingr back to camp 
to rest awhile, the sharp crack of muslietry on the 
right of our former lines told us that the enemy was 
much nearer than we imagined. In fact, they had 
almost penetrated the town itself. How on earth, 
with the woods full of our cavalry, they could have 
approached so near our lines, is a mystery. They 
had planted a battery sufficiently near to shell Gene- 
ral Price's headquarters, and were cracking away at 
the third brigade, when the fourth came up at double 
quick, and then, for two hours and litteen minutes, 
was kept up the most terrific fire of musketry that 
ever dinned my ears. Tliere was one continuous 
roar of small arms, while grape and canister howled 
in tearful concert above our heads and through our 
ranks. General Little was shot dead early in the ac- 
tion. * * * It was a terrible sti-uggle, and we 
lost heavily. All night could bo heard the groans of 
the wounded and dying, forming a sequel of horror 
and agony to the deadly struggle, over which night 
had kindly thrown its mantle. Saddest of a^, oxir 
dead were left unburied, and many of the wounded 
on the battle-field, to be tajcen in charge by the ene- 
my." 

The Union general, comprehending the de- 
sign of Van Dorn to drive the Union forces 
out of Tennessee, but uncertain where the 
blows would fall, whether at Bolivar or Corinth, 
prepared to receive them at either ])lace, and 
on the 23d of September removed his head- 
quarters to Jackson, from which point he 
could more readily communicate with both 
posts, as well as with Cairo and Memphis. 
October 1st lie telegraphed, " My position 
is precarious, but I hope to get out of it all 
right." When at last he received tlirough his 
scouts reliable intelligence concerning the 
rebel movements, which rendered it certain 
that they would direct their attack against 
Corinth, he directed General Rosecrans to con- 
centrate his force there, and sent a brigade 
from Jackson to support him. He also direct- 
ed Generals Ord and Hurlbut to advance from 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



45 



Bolivar by way of Pocahontas, and be pre- 
pared to attack Van Dorn in flank or rear, 
should they not be in time to enter tlie town. 
The battle of Corinth was begun by the 
rebels on the 2d of October, but was confined 
on that day to. tlie preliminary skirmishing 
which is usually the avant courrier of a con- 
flict. The next day tlie battle was begun in 
earnest, and our troops who had occupied ad- 
vanced positions, were driven back, with con- 
siderable confusion and loss, to the works 
around Corinth, whicii the foretiiought of 
Grant had ordeied to be constructed, when 
he assumed command in July. These fortifi- 
cations undoubtedly saved the army on the 
evening of the 3(1. On the following morn- 
ing, the rebels in high spirits from the suc- 
cesses of the previous day, renewed the bat- 
tle with great fierceness. This colunm charged 
again and again, only to be driven back, 
shattered and bleeding. Still again, they are 
urged forward by their leaders, and the men 
come up with their faces averted as if striv- 
ing to protect themselves against a driving 
storm of hail, and finally, "the ragged head 
of the colunm" ])enetrate our ranks, but are 
quickly driven back, and over the broad glacis, 
with severe loss. Our regiments swarming 
over their works, chase the broken fragments 
of the rebel column back to the works; many 
crouching in t!ie abatis, surrender at discre- 
tion. Thus ended, about noon, the fiercely 
contested battle of Corinth. The rebels re- 
treated to the Hatchie, about ten miles dis- 
tant, and were there struck by Hurlbut and 
Ord, as Grant had planned, and lost numerous 
men and guns, and had Rosecrans pursued as 
instructed, the whole rebel army would have 
been destroyed or captured. As it was, by 
the delay of Rosecrans to pursue. Van Dorn 
and Price succeeded in getting away with 
such of their forces as had escaped death and 
capture. After the three day's desperate fight- 
ing, in which Generals Ord and Oglesby were 
wounded, and Hackleman killed. Grant issued 
a congralulatory address to his heroic troops : 

" It is -with heartfelt gratitude the General com- 
manding congratulates the armies of the West for 
another gi-eat victory won by them on the 3d, 4th, 
aud 5 th instant over the combined armies of Van 
Dorn, Price, aud Lovell. 

" The enemy chose his own time and place of at- 
tack, and knowing the troops of the West as he does, 
and with great facilities lor knowing their numbers, 
never would have made the attempt except with a 
superior force numerically. But for the undaunted 
bravery of officers and soldiers, who have yet to 



learn defeat, the efforts of tlie enemy mut have 
proven successful. 

" As in all gi-cat battles, go in this, it becomes our 
fate to morn the loss of many bravo and faithful of. 
fleers and soldiers, who have given up tlieir hves iis 
a sacriilcB for a great principle. The nation mourns 
for them." 

Grant closed his dispatch to Washington 
communicating his success with these wonls : 
" I have strained everything to take iiUo the 
fight an adequate force, and to gel them in 
the right place." No sooner liad the good 
news been received at the capital tlian the 
President sent over the wires to General 
Grant the following message : " I congrat- 
ulate you and all concerned in your re- 
cent battles and victories. IIow does it all 
sum up 1 I especially regret the death of 
General Hackleman, and am very anxioua 
to know the condition of Goncal 0_des- 
by, who is an intimate personal friend." 
The 'significant inquiry " How does it all sura 
up 1 " may be briefiy answered. The enemy's 
loss was upwards of eight thousand in killed, 
wounded and prisoners, together wiih numer- 
ous guns and standards, while those who es- 
caped were very greatly demoralized by their 
repeated defeats, and by the pursuit which 
was continued by the entire army for forty 
miles, and by the cavalry for sixty. luka, 
Corinth, and the Hatchie relieved Grant's in- 
adequate forces, which he handled with such 
consummate skill from all immediate danger, 
and relieved for a time Western Tennessee 
from the tread of liostile forces. 

The following extract from a letter dated 
at Corinth, on the 6th of October, 1862, vivid- 
ly portrays the fearful emotions and anxious 
thoughts which torture the mind of an ob- 
server during the progress of battle, and nar- 
rates but one of the many harrowing scenes 
of the war : 

" O, my friend ! how can I tell you of the torttires 
that have nearly crazed me, for the last throe 
days V Ton is powerless to trace, words weak to 
convey one tithe ol the misery 1 have endure<l. I 
thought myself strong before. I have seen so much 
of sutfering that I thought my nerves had grown 
steady, and I could bear anything ; but to-day I am 
weak and trembling like a frightened cliild. 

" But do not wonder at it. My dear husband lies 
beside me, wounded unto death, perhaps. I have lost 
all hopes of saving him, though I thank God for the 
privilege of being this moment beside him. And be- 
sides this, all around me the sufferers lie moaning in 
agony. There has been little tunc to tend them, 
poor follows. True, the surgeons are busy all the 
time, but all the wounded have not yet been brought 
in, and it seems as if the time will never come wh.en 



46 



LIEE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the brave men shall have been made comfortable as 
circumstances may permit. It is awtul to look 
around me. I can see every imaginable form of suf- 
fering, and yet am helpless to aid them any of con- 
sequence. 

" Since night before last I have not left my hus- 
band's side tor a moment, except to get such things 
as I required, or to hand some poor, fellow a cup of 
water. 

" Even as I write, my heart throbs achingly to hear 

the deep groans and sharp cries about me. F is 

sleeping, but I dare not close my eyes lest he should 
die while I sleep. And it is to keei) awake, and in a 
manner relieve my overburdened heart that I am 
now writing you under such sad circumstances, 

" On the morning of the third instant the light be- 
gan. The attack was made on General McArthur's 
division, and we could plainly hear the roar of the 
artillery here, as it is about two miles and a half 
distant only from this place. O, the fearful agony 
of that awful, awful day ! I had seen F a mo- 
ment early in the morning, but it was only a mo- 
ment, when he bade me good-bye, saying hurriedly, 
as he tore himself away : ' Pray for me, my wife, 
and if I fall, God protect you ! ' Th<'re was some- 
thing in his look and tone which struck a chill to my 
heart, and every moment after I knew the fight had 
begun, I felt as if he had indeed fallen. I cannot 
tell how long it was before I heard that Oglesby's 
brigade was engaged, but it seemed an age to me. 
After that my agony was nearly intolerable. I never 
had a thought at fear for myself, I was thinking 

only of F . Then I got the word that he had 

been hotly pursued by the rebels and had fallen back. 

" Late in the afternoon I succeeded in gaining a 
little intelligible information. Poor General Hack- 
leman was shot through the neck, while giving a com- 
mand, and fell mortally wounded. He died between 
10 and 11 o'clock the same night, I have since learned. 
Up to the time of receiving the wound, he had acted 
■with the greatest bravery and enthusiasm, tempered 
by a coohiessthat made every action eliective. When 
dusk at last put an end to the iirst day's conflict, I 
learned that Geneial Oglesby had been dangerously 
■wounded, but cjuld gain no intelligence of my hus- 
band. I could not bear the suspense. Dark "as it 
■was, and ho^jclesf is it seemed to search for him then, 
I started out tc the battle-field. 

" O, how shall I describe the search of that night ? 
It looked like madness. It was madness. But all 
night long I staggered amongst bleeding corpses, over 
dead horses, trampled limbs, shattered artillery— 
everything that goes to make up the horrors of a bat- 
tle-field when the conflict is over. They were remov- 
ing the wounded all night. Oh, think how awful to 
stumble over the dead, and hear the cries of the 
■wounded and dying, alone, and in the night time. I 
had to start off alone, else they would not have let 
me go. 

" As you may suppose, I could not find him, either 
amongst the living or the dead. But the next morn- 
ing, just after sunrise, I came to little clump of tim- 
ber where a horse had fallen, his head shot off, and 
his body half covering a man whom I supposed dead. 
His face was to the ground, but as I stooped to look 
closer I perceived a slight movement of the body, 
then heard a faint moan. I stoopef and turned the 
fiace n;pward. The head and face were both covered 



with blood, but when I turned it to the light, I knew 
it in spite of its dishguration. Oh God ! the agony 
of that moment sickened me almost to suffocation. 
With a strength I thought impossible in me, I drew 
him crushed and bleeding form beneath the carcass of 
our poor old horse, whom we had both so loved and 
petted, and dipping my liandkerchief in a little pool 
of water amongst the bushes, bathed his face, and 
pressed some moisture between his parched, swollen 
lips. He was utterly senseless, and there was a dread- 
ful wound in his head. Both limbs were crushed 
hopelessly beneath his horso. Pe was utterly be- t 
yond the reach of human skill to save, but as soon 
as possible I had him conveyed to the hospital. 1 
have nursed him ever since hopelessly, and with a 
heart breaking with grief. 

" Oh, how many wives, how many mothers are to- 
day mourning the dead and dying, even as I mourn 
my dying ! He has not opened his eyes to look at 
me, or spoken to me, since he fell. Oh, could he but 
speak to me once before he dies, I should give him 
up with more resignation. But to die thus, without 
a look or word ; oh, my heart is breaking ! " 

Among Uie heroic regiments that served at 
Coi'inlh, was tlie Eighth Iowa, whose stalwart 
standard 'bearer carried a living and noble 
specimen of an American eagle in the place of 
a flag. He would fly off over the battle-field 
during the sanguinary struggle, and then re- 
turn and perch ui)on the small platforrn at the 
end of his pole, clap his pinions, and then sail 
grandly aloft, accomjjanied by the cheeis of 
the regiment, always returning to his post, 
seemingly regardless of the screaming shot 
and shell, or the pint^ of the hail-.storm of 
bullets. The following poem, descriptive of the 
battle, is entitled " The Eagle of Ooiinth : " 

Did you hear of the fight at Corinth, 
How weWhipped out Price and Van Dom t 

Ah ! that day we earned our rations, 

(Our cause was God's and the Nation's, 
Or we'd have come out forlorn !) — 

A long and terrible day ! 

And, at last, when night grew gray, 

By the hundred there they lay, 

(Heavy sleepers you'd say) — 
That wouldn't wake on the menu , 

Our staff was bare of a flag ; 
We didn't carry a rag 

In those brave marching days ; 
Ah ! no ; but a finer thing ! 
With never a cord or string, — 
An eagle, of ruffled wing, 

An eye of awful gaze I 

The grape, it rattled like hail ; 
The Minies were dropping like rain, 

The first of a thunder-shower— 
The wads were blowing like chaff, 
(There was pounding, like floor and flail. 

All the front of our line !) 
So we stood it, hour after hour — 

But our eagle, he felt fine I 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



47 



'Twoukl have made you cheer and laugh 
To see through tliat iron gale, 

How the old tellow'd swoop and sail 
Above the racket and roar — 
To right and to loft he'd soar, 

But ever came back, without fail. 

And perchtd on his standard staff. 

All that day, I tell you true, 
They had pressed us steady and fair, 
Till we fought in street and square, 

(The affair, you might think, looked blue) — 
But we knew we had them there ! 

Our works and batteries were few ; 

Every gun, they'd have 3worn, they knew — 

But, you sec, there was one or two 
"We had fixed for them, unaware. 

They reckon they've got us now I 

For the next half-hour 'twill be warm — 
Ay ! ay ! look yonder ! — I vow. 
If they weren't secesh, how I'd love them I 

Only see how grandly they foi'm 
(Our eagle whirling above them), 

To take Robinetto by storm ! 
They're timing ! — it can't be long — 
Now for the nub of the flght ! 

(You may guess tliat we held our breath), 
By the Lord, 'tis a splendid sight ! 

A column, two thousand strong, 

Marching square to the death ! 

On they came, in solid column ; 

For once, no whooping nor yell, 
(Ah ! I dare say, they felt solemn) — 
Front and flank — grape and shell 
Our batteries pounded away ! 
And the Minies humnjed to remind 'em 
They had started on no child's play I 
Steady they kept a going. 
But a grim wake settled behind 'em— 
From the edge of the abatis 

(Where our dead and dying lay, 
Under fence and fallen tree). 

Up to Robinette all the way 
The dreadful swath kept growing ! 
'Twas butternut, flecked with gray. 

Now for it, at Robinette ! 
Muzzle to muzzle we met, 
(Not a breath of bluster or brag, 
Not a lisp for quarter or favor)— 
Three times three, by Robinette, 
With a rush, their feet they set 
On the logs of our parapet. 
And waved their bit of a flag — 
What could be finer or braver I 

But our cross-fire stunned them in flank; 
They melted, rank after rank — 
(O'er them, with temble poise. 

Our bird did circle and wheel!) 
Their whole line began to waver — 
Now for the bayonet, boys ! 
On them with the cold steel ! 

Ah ! well— you know how it ended — 
We did for them, there and then ; 



But their pluck throughout was 8i)lendiJ,> 
(As 1 said before, i could love them !) 
They stood, to the last, like men— ^ 
Only a handful of them 
V. Found the way back again.' 

Red as bloo<l o'er the town, 
The angry sun went down. 
Firing flag-stafl and vano— 
And our eagle— as for him. 
There, all rullled and grim. 

He sat, o'erlooking the slain ! 

Next morning you'd have wondered 
How we had to drive the spudc ! 
There in great trenches and holes, 
(Ah ! God rest their poor souls !) 
We pile some fifteen hundred. 

Where that last chai-gu was made I . 

Sad enough, I must say ! 

No mother to mourn and search, 
No priest to bless or to pniy— 
We buried them where tliey lay. 

Without a rite of the church- 
But our eagle all that day 

Stood solemn and still on his jicrch. 

'Tis many a stormy day 
Since, out of tlie cold, bleak North, 
Our great war ea^le sailed forth 
To swoop o'er battle and fray. 
Many and many a day 

O'er charge and stonn hath ho wheeled 

Foray and loiighten-Ueld — 

Tramp and volley, and rattle !— 
Over crimson trench and tuif, 
Over climbing clouds of surf. 
Through tempest and cannon-rack. 
Have this terrible pinions whirled- 
(A thousand fields of battle! 
A million leagues ot loam '.) 
But our bird shall yet come back. 
He shall soar to his eyrie home — 
And his thunderous wings be furled. 
In the gaze of a gladdened world, 
On the nation's loftiest dome. 

In October Rosecrans was assigned to the 
command of the Department of the Oliio, 
superseding Buell, and Grant's conmiand, the 
Department of the Tennessee, was considerably 
enlarged. It included Cairo, Forts Henry and 
Donelson, Northern Mississippi, and tliose por- 
tions of Kentucky and Tennessee west of the 
river of that name. Ilis headquarters were 
continued at Jackson, from which point he 
could best direct, organize and overlook liis 
colossal command. Reinforcements and sup- 
plies were now forwarded to him with a view 
to making a march into the interior of Missis- 
sippi and capturing the Western Gibraltar, as 
the rebels vaingloriously called Vicksbnrg. 
Grant now divided his department into four 



:48 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



districts^'and assigned the four divisions of 
bis army as follows : Sherman, with the first 
division, commanded the district of Jlemphis, 
Hurlbut, with the second, that of Jackson, the 
district of Corinth, by Hamilton, with the 
third division and that of Columbus, was in 
command of Davis, with the fourth. Grant's 
great administrative abilities were now dis- 
played in preparations for the new campaign, 
and perhaps the most brilliant in the adonals 
of the Great Rebellion of 1861-5. 

Before entering upon another chapter, in 
which will be told the story of this famous 
siege, we must again recur to the groundless 
stories, which continued to obtain circulation, 
concering General Grant's habits of self-indul- 
gence. It is difficult to ascertain the precise 
truth with regard to the private personal hab- 
its of men who have become distinguished in 
public affliirs. The tongue of slander is busy 
against them, and on the other hand a zealou* 
partisanship is alwa.vs ready to magnify their 
virtues, and to cover or deny their faults. 
No cliarue is more common against eminent 
Americans than that of intemperance : and 
it is far easier to start sucli an accusation, and 
to gain credence for it in the public mind, 
than to disprove it by competent and avail- 
able testimony. In the early stages of the 
war, the ready solution of a defeat to the Un- 
ion arms was the intoxication of the command- 
ing general. Banks was drunk at the Sabine 
Cross Roads ; Hooker was drunk at Chancel- 
lorsville ; Grant was drunk at Sliiloh, at least 
during the disaster of the first day ; and 
now rumors were again current about the 
General's fiee indulgence in whiskey. Like 
Banquo's ghost they would not down. Influ- 
ences were again at work at Washington, to 
have Grant removed from his command, but 
the witty reply of the President after the vic- 
tory at Corinth, " I wish that all the generals 
would drink Grant's whiskey," showed how 
little credit he gave to the slanders. Some 
one was disparaging Grant in Sherman's pres- 
ence, when the latter broke out with, " It 
won't do, sir, it won't do ; Grant is a great 
general. He stood by me when I was crazy, 
and I stood by him ^vh^■n he was drunk, and 
now, sir, we stand by each other," by which he 
of course intended to convey the impression 
that he no more believed his commander to be 
a drunkard than he believed himself to be in- 
sane. This hue and cry against Grant was 
chiefly the work of newspaper correspondents 



and the adherents of less successful political 
leaders, who wished to aid their friends by 
defaming Grant, and it appeared to trouble 
him less than it did his admirers and troops of 
friends in the Western armies. If any one 
repeated what was said by such a paper or 
person, he only — smoked. 

" If you try to wheedle out of him his plans 
for a campaign," wrote an eloquent essayist. 
•'Grant stolidly smokes; if you call him an 
imbecile and a blunderer, he blandly lights 
another cigar ; if you praise him as the great- 
est general living, he placidly returns the puff 
from his regalia ; and if you tell him he should 
run for the Presidency, it does not disturb the 
equanimity with which be inhales and exliales 
the unsubstantial vapor which typifies the 
politician's promises. While you are wondering 
what kind of a man this creature without a 
tongue is, you are suddenly electrified with 
the news of some splendid victory, proving 
that behind the cigar, and behind the face 
discharged of all tell-tale expression, is the 
best brain to plan, and the strongest heart to 
dare among the generals of the army." 



CHAPTER YII. 

THE TICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 

Grant moves into Mississippi — Captures Holly 
Springs and Oxford — Mui-phy's cowardice— Army 
falls back^Campaign abandoned — Grant goes to 
Vicksburg — Gunboats and transports pass the bat- 
teries—Thrilling description— Grant's habits again-- 
Genesis of a rumor— Anecdotes— Army marches to 
Hard Times— Crosses to Bniinsburg— Defeats reb- 
els in five battles — Occupies capital of Mississippi- 
Commences siege of Vicksburg— Unsuccessful as- 
saults— Its capture— Magnificent results — rromot- 
ed to regular army — President's letter to Grant — 
Pr ised by Halleck— Poem by Street— Anecdote of 
Grant and Sherman. 

" I cannot tell exactly vrhen I shall take Vicksburg, 
but I mean to stay here until I du, if it takes nae 
thirty years." GniNl to a PtEBEL Womak. 

" I demand tmconditional surrender." 

Gbamx id Pembebton. 

On the 4th of November, Grant having com- 
pleted all his jireparations, began his move- 
ment against Vicksburg, by an advance into 
Mississippi, with a force of thirty thousand 
men. All his energies were now concentrated 
on the capluie of the rebel stronghold, the 
key to the navigation of the Mississippi rive--. 
To epitomize its value, we may quote Sher- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OP GENERAL GRANT. 



49 



man's words: "The possession of the Missis- 
sippi is tlie possession of America." While 
Grant steadily pushed the enemy south, other 
co-operating movements were being made 
against Vicksburg by hislieulenauts. In Sher- 
man's sententious words , •' Grant moved di- 
rect on I'emberton, while I moved from Mem- 
pliis, and a smaller force, under AVashburne, 
struck directly for Grenada; and the first 
thing Peuiberton knew, the depot of his sup- 
plies, was almost in the grasp of a small cav- 
alry force, and he fell back in confusion, and 
gave us the Tallahatchie without a battle.' 
On the 29th, Grant's headquarters were at Hol- 
ly Springs, and six days later he entered Ox- 
ford, with his cavalry atCoffeeville, only eight- 
een miles from Grenada ; the whole movement 
into Mississippi having been made without 
any serious fighting, and giving promise of the 
most complete success, when the cowardice 
and incapacity of Colonel ^lurphy, who had 
been placed in command of Holly Springs, 
and who a.lowed this vast depot of supplies 
to be captured by the rebels under Van Dorn 
without striking a blow in its defence, al- 
though previou.sly warned that an attack was 
probable, deranged all Grant's admirably con- 
ceived plans for carrying Vicksburg, and 
rendered necessary a retrograde movement. 
The rebels destroyed all the ordnance, sub- 
sistence, and quartermaster's stores accumu- 
lated there, valued at more than a million 
of dollars, and hastily evacuated the place, 
before our troops fell back, as they were com- 
pelled to do. jMari)hy, the same oflBcer who 
gave up luka to Price, was dismissed from 
the service. Had Grant then known what he 
soon afterwards learned, that an army could 
be subsisted without supplies, other than those 
drawn from an enemy's country, he could 
have pushed on to the rear of Vicksburg, and 
probably have succeeded in capturing the 
place. Not knowing this fact, he fell back to 
Holly Springs, and ordered forward other sup- 
plies. Sherman, in the mean time, had moved 
down to Milliken's Bend, and not hearing from 
Grant, who was unable to communicate with 
him, made his unsuccessful assault at Chick- 
asaw Bayou, but after a three days' struggle, 
abandoned his attack against Vicksburg. 

The time for success in a movement south- 
ward by way of the Mississippi Central Rail- 
road having passed. Grant gradually fell back 
with his army, and soon afier removed h'S heail- 
quarters to Young's Point, a few miles above 



the city of Vicksburg. Situated in a curve of 
the river, it was deemed impregnable, so lofty 
were its bluffs and so formidable its batteries. 
Not simply the city itself was surrounded 
with earth-works, but Haines, Chickasaw and 
Wa nut Bluffs, to tiie north aiid northwest, and 
Warrenton, commanding the lower approaches 
to it, were also strongly fortified. The can- 
nal project having failed, as well as his at- 
tempts to enter the Yazoo by the old Yazoo 
pass, and subsequently by a more circuilious 
route, through Steel's Bayou, Black Bayou, 
Duck Creek, DeerCreek, Rullin^ Forkanil Sun- 
flower River, he resolved to march across the 
country on the Louisiana side, to a point below 
Vicksburg, and attack the rebel stronghoM in 
the rear. After a conference with Admirals 
Farragut and Po'^ter, it was determined to 
send a part of the gunbonts and the trans- 
ports, laden with snitplies and forage, pa.st 
the frowning batteries in two divisions on dif- 
ferent nights. Among others who shared in 
this hazardous exploit, which was accom- 
plished with the comi)araiively insignificant 
loss of two transports, were several newspai>er 
correspondents, one of whom has left this 
glowing picture : 

" It was ten o'clock on a beatitiful moonlight 
night, even for those latitudes, when we cu>t loose at 
Milliken's Bend, and our bttle tuf snorted down the 
river accompanied by the transport A. D. Iline. 

" Our adieus said, we quietly chatted, and finished 
a solitary bottle of dry catawba, which some good 
friends had sent on boai-d for our com tort. We bad 
on board, as a guard, fifteen sharp-shooters from the 
Forty-seventh Ohio, tinder Captain AVard, Surgeoa 
Davidson, th« tug's crew of eight, four persons on 
their way to join their regiments, and our party of 
three, all volunteers. 

" I should liLre mention, as illustrating the temper 
of that army, that when fourteen volunteers were 
called for the whole regiment stepi)ed forward. Com- 
pany A was srlic'ted, and still there was a squabble 
to go. Fourteen were then marked off; a Ulleenth 
begged permission of the Colonel, and one actually 
paid a premium of five dollars to his i-omrade for the 
privilege of going on this hazardous service. The 
barges were covered with tiers, ot hay in order to pro- 
tect the tug, but the hay was decmwl ulnu»t unne- 
cessary, and so put on quite loosely, and the ends of 
the lx)at were quite exposed. 

" At midnight we came in sight of Vicksburg. At 
half-past twelve as we were steaming acrvws the upper 
side of the point, the rebel pickets on the I>ouisUn» 
shore began to fir« upon us ; their shots, however, 
did no damage. 

" At quarter before one, a rocket shot up from the 
upper batteries. There was no need of such a warn- 
ing, for the boats might be seen almost as clearly aa 
by sunlight, and the loud puff of our eslaust pipe 
gave ample warning when we were three miles dis- 
tant. 



60 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" At five minutes past one the first shot was fired, 
and struck so near, as to leave us in doubt whether 
the barges were hit. A lull of a few minutes, then 
another, closely followed by a round. It kept up in 
this way as we were rounding the bend, the shots all 
seeming to come very nearto us, but few strikine:, as 
•we could perceive by the momentary throb of the hull 
when struck. 

" With the exception of Captain Ward, the pilots, 
engineers and fu'emen, the rest of us were posted 
along the barges, on the alert for an attemijt at 
boarding. 

" By reference to a map of the locahty, it will be 
seen that the river forms a kind of loop in front of 
Vicksburg ; so that we had to run a portion of the dis- 
tance by, and then turn under fire, and run the whole 
line back again. In this way we were exposed to a 
fire from the starboard side, then from the bow, and, 
•when fairly in front of the batteries, from all three 
directions to a concentrated tire. 

" At first there were efi'orts to peer from behind the 
rampart of hay bales, and duck on perceiving the 
flash of the rebel guns ; but soon the shots were so 
rapid, and from points so widely apart, that that ex- 
citing amusement was dropjied. The screaming of 
the shells as they went over us, the splashing and 
Bpray, were lor a time subjects of jesting and imita- 
tion, when a shell burst three feet over our heads 
•with a stunning report. 

" Twenty minutes (long minutes those) under fire, 
and nobody hurt ! 

" The barges still floating, and the little propeller 
making eight miles an hour. We had already passed 
the upper batteries, and were congratulating our- 
selves on our good luck, the guns pouring broadsides 
at us with amazing noise, as we were but four hun- 
dred yards from the guns, and it seemed in the clear 
air as if we were right in front of the muzzles. Sev- 
eral shots struck the barges very heavily, still there 
•was no stoppage. It must have been about quarter 
before two, when all the roar of the guns was drowned 
in one terrific report, as if a magazine had burst un- 
der us. 

" My first thought was that the powder had been 
stowed on the barges, and had ignited ; but on clam- 
bering up among smoke and flames, I could see in- 
deed nothing like a tug. She had exploded, and the 
•white hot cinders were thrown up in a spouting 
Bhower, while steam and smoke enveloped the barges 
like a pall. 

" Almost at the same minute the batteries com- 
menced a vengeful, and, as it seemed to me, a savage 
fire upon us, faster and faster. The shells burst all 
around and above us tor a few moments with a stun- 
ning and blinding eSect. The coals had set fire to 
the hay bales in several places ; the bursting shells 
had aided in the work. In vam did we trample upon 
them, and throw them overboard, burning our hands, 
feet and clothing in the effort. Ko buckets were to 
be found. They had been blown away. On looking 
down between the barges, there hung the fragments 
of the tug by the tow ropes. The little cratt being 
nearly all boiler, had been shattered to atoms, as 'we 
afterwards learned, by a ten-inch shell. 

" The rebels then set up a hideous yell from the 
blufi^s, as if in mockery at our crippled condition. 
The batteries kept on firing, the blazing hay lighting 
up the river. We were then slowly drifting with the 



current past the front of the city. Our disaster hap- 
pened right abreast of the court-house, when we had 
passed more than half the batteries, and under the 
fire of them all. 

" As soon as we could clearly see through the blind- 
ing smoke, we found Mr. Browne standing barehead- 
ed on the topmost bale, as if he were a defiant target 
for the rebel gunners. Captain Ward had been 
blown forward thirty feet from the tug into the river, 
and two of his men were engaged in fishing him up. 
The wounded and scalded men were crying for help, 
answered only by an occasional shell or malicious 
cheer. 

" After a few moments of hasty and rather infor- 
mal consultation, it was deemed best to quit the 
barges, as the fiames were crowding us very closely. 
Bales of hay were then tumbled off iuto the river, 
and the wounded placed upon them. 

" The heat now became intense. Mr. Browne and 
myself remained till all were off, and then, with but 
one bale for the two, stripped for the plunge. Just 
as we were ready a solid shot whistled between us, 
and ploughed into the water under Mr. Richardson's 
feet, overturning him from his bale, and producing a 
fountain of spray where he had sunk. 

" Our eyes were gladdened at his return to the 
surface unhurt. 

" We leaped into the muddy flood and buffeted the 
waves for some minutes, with a sense of relief from 
the insupportable heat. Junius followed, and to- 
gether we commenced swimming for the Louisiana 
shore, supposing that our pickets occupied it. 

" We had been in the water for half an hour, per- 
haps, when the sound of the stroke of oars reached 
us, and presently a yawl pulled round the barges. 
Our first emotions were pleasant enough, but they 
were all destroyed when we saw the grey clothing of 
the boatmen. They scooped us in by the time we had 
drifted two miles below the city, and with some 
roughness impressed upon us the fact that we were 
prisoners. Dripping and shivering, we were marched 
up to the city, and taken before the Provost-Mar- 
shal and registered." 

Before following Grant and his army in the 
march of seventy miles across the country, to 
Hard Times, a landing on the Louisiana side 
of the Mississippi, south of Vicksburg, we 
desire, to introduce some testimony, which has 
been given in regard to Grant's habits. We 
once again, and for the last time, recur to the 
subject of his alleged intemperance during 
the war and since, for the purpose of intro- 
ducing a very instructive story, recently con- 
tributed to Ibe columns of a New York jour- 
nal, by F. L. Olmsted, and entitled, " The 
Genesis of a Rumor." 

As the General Superintendent of the San- 
itary Commission he had occasion, early in 
1863, to visit General Grant, at his headquar- 
ters just above Vicksburg. His assistant, Mr. 
F. Knapp, was with him. They were received 
by the General on board a steamboat, and 
encfaged in conversation, sitting over a table 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OP GENERAL GRANT. 



61 



on which was a pitcher of water with some 
glasses. The General gave tiiein an account 
of the condition of his campaign, which tlieii 
wore a very unfavorable appearance. General 
Steele had just been foiled in an attempt to 
get around Vicksburg byway of the Sunflower ; 
the idea of passing below the city by means 
of a canal across the peninsula from Young's 
Point was not promisinii ; and there was a 
great doubt what should be done. Gradually 
the General was led into a review of the whole 
undertaking. " We were impressed," says Mr. 
Olmsted, " as much by the remarkably me- 
thodical clearness of the narration as by the 
simple candor and ingeimousness wiih which 
it was given to us who, tlie day before, had 
been strangers to him. He took up several 
hypotheses and suggestions, and analyzed 
them in such a way as to make prominent the 
uncertainties and uncontrollable elements 
which were involved in them; and I could not 
but think, so musing and quietly reflective 
was his manner, and yet so exact and well ar- 
ranged his expressions, that he was simply re- 
peating a process of thinking it out,' in order 
to assure himself that he fully comprehended 
and gave just weight to all the important ele- 
ments of some grand military problem, the 
solution of which be was about to undertake." 
While they were thus engaged, a lady came 
past the curtain, behind whose screen they 
were sitting, to deliver a memorial to the Gen- 
eral. He ruse to receive it, and stood wiih 
one hand on his cliaii' while she spoke to him. 
He then niade an apjiointment for his medical 
director to call upon her the next day on the 
business she had presented, and she left, when 
the conversation was resumed. 

A week or two later, Mr. Olmsted's compan- 
ion, Mr. Knapp. met the same lady at a hotel 
in Memphis. She lamented the drunken habits 
of General Grant, and, by way of proof, said 
that she had lately seen the General on board 
a steamboat, near Vicksburg, carousing with 
two boon companions, and that he was so 
lipsy when he spoke to her that he had to 
steady himself by leaning on a chair ; more- 
over, his voice was thick and he spoke inco- 
herently. Tiie next day, being ashamed to 
see her himself, he had sent his doctor to find 
out what she wanted. Mr. Knapp then told 
her that, having been one of the boon com- 
panions whom she had observed with the Gen- 
eral on that occasion, and that having dined 
vrith him and been face to face with him for I 



fully three hours, he not only knew that he 
was under the influence of no drink stronger 
than the uiKjualihed mud of the .Mississippi, 
but he could assure her that he lia<l iif ver set*n 
a man who appeared to him morn thoroughly 
sober and clear-headed than General Grant al 
the moment of her entrance. 

This did not suffice, however, to satisfy the 
lady, and probably to this day she is convinced 
that she has seen General Grant in a slate of 
intoxication. The facts in the case show clear- 
ly on what sort of evidence this gn-at bene- 
factor of the country has been so widely and 
unscrupulously ma igned. 

Another story of the same kiml, which is 
equally well attested, illustraies (jiiite as re- 
markably tlie small groundwork of facts on 
which the most calumnious reports may be 
built up. While Grant was conducting the 
memorable siege of Vicksburg, a letter was 
sent to the office of the Evening Post, from a 
respectable and trustworthy Union man of the 
West, alleging that on a certain occasion 
Grant went, with his staff', from S|)rnigfield, 
111., to Cairo, in the special car of the Presi- 
dent of the Illinois Central Railroad ; that on 
the way they all got drunk, and that Grant 
was drunkest of all ; and that for this reason, 
if for no other, he ought to be at once re- 
moved from his commaml. It happened that 
when this letter was received, Mr. Osborne, 
then President of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
was p'esent at the Evening Post office, and 
was a.sked about the story. He replied : " It 
is a malianant falsehood. Grant and his staif 
did go down to Cairo in the President's car; 
I took them down myself, and selected that 
car bt'cause it had conveniences for working, 
sleeping, and eating on the way. We had din- 
ner in the car, at which wine was served to 
such as desired it. I asked Grant what he 
would drink ; he answered, a cup of tea, and 
this I made for him myself. Nobody was dnmk 
on the car, and to my certain knowledge, 
Grant tasted no liquid but lea and water." 

To the pei"sisient and imwearying attempts 
to defame and misrepresent General Grant, be 
did not deign the slightest notice, finrling con- 
solation in his inseparable companion — and 
doubtless the confidant of many muttered 
things — his cigar. Another comfort he per- 
haps found in the Chinese proverb : " Forms 
are known by their shadows, and great men 
by their calumniators." One must stand high 
to call such a shadow. 



52 



LIEE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



The following anecdotes, contributed by a 
lady of Ashland, Pennsylvania, refer to the 
same tojjic as the articles alluded to above: 

" During- the first tliree years of the war I was 
actively identified with the Western branch ol' the 
Sanitary Coiiimission, and had abundant opportunity 
of judging for myself in regard to the character and 
ability of our generals. During' the entire campaign 
I of the opening of the Mississippi, it was my privilege 
I to aid in caring for our noble patriots, both in hos- 
' pital and camps, and I have been lor weeks together 
where I saw General Grant frequently, hef>,rd his 
name constantly, and never did I hear intemperance 
mentioned in connection with it. Facts are stubborn 
things. I will relate a tew of the many that came 
directly to my knowledge. In the winter of 1862-03, 
when the army arrived at Memphis, alter long, 
weary marching, and trials that sicken the heart to 
think ot, two-thirds of the officers and soldiers were 
in hospitals. General Grant was lying sick at the 
Gayoso House. One morning Mrs. Grant came into 
the ladies' parlor very much depressed, and said the 
medical director had just been to see Mr. Grant, and 
thought he would not be able to go any further if he 
did not stimulate. Said she, ' And I cannot persuade 
him to do so ; he says he will not die, and he will not 
touch adroj) upon any consideration.' In less than 
a week he was on board the advance boat on the 
way to Vicksburg. 

" Again, a few months after, I was on board the 
headquarters boat at MilUken's Bend, where quite a 
lively gathering of officers and ladies had assembled. 
Cards and music were the order of the evening. 
General Grant sat in the ladies' cabin, leaning- upon 
a table covered with innumerable maps and routes 
to Vicksburg, wholly absorbed in contemplation of 
the great matter before him. He paid no attention 
Vhatever to what was going on around, neither did 
any one dare interrupt him. For hours he sat thus, 
until the loved and lamented McPherson stepped up 
to him, with a glas? of liquor in his hand, and said : 
'General, this won't do, you are injuring yourself; 
join with us in a few toasts, and throw this burden 
otf your mind.' Looking up and smilinsj, he replied : 
' Mac, you know your whiskey won't help me to 
think. Give me a dozen of the best cigars you can 
find, and if the ladies will excuse me for smoking, I 
think by the time I have finished them I shall have 
this job pretty nearly planned.' Thus he sat ; and 
when the company retired, we left him there, still 
smoking and thinking, not having touched One drop 
of liquor. 

" When the army lay ai"ound Vicksburg during 
that long siege, the time that tried men's souls, I 
watched every movement that it was possible for n»e 
to do, feeling almost certain that he would eventually 
succumb to the custom, alas ! too universal among 
the officers. I was in company with a gentleman 
from Chicago, -^ho, while calling upon the general 
remarked : ' I have sorne ve'-y fin brandy on the 
boat, and if you will send an orderly with me to the 
river, I will send you a case or *:wo ' ' I am greatly 
obliged,' replied the General, ' but I do not use thi; 
article. I have a big job on hand, and, though I 
know I shall win, I know I must do it with a cool 
head. Send all the liquor you intend for me to my 



hospital in the rear ; I don't think a little -will hurt 
the poor fellows down there.' 

" At a celebration on the 22d of February, before 
the surrender of Vicksbur;^, while all around wer" 
drinking toasts in sjiarklin^ chamj^agne, I sa.w Gen- 
eral Grant push aside a glass oi wme. and takiny uj*. 
a glass of Mississippi water, with the remark, 'This 
suits the matter in hand,' drink to the toast, ' Go.1 
gave us Lincoln and Liberty ; let us fi;^ht for both.' " 

On the last day of April two corps crossed 
from the west side in transports to Brnius- 
burg, ten miles below Grand Gulf, and moved 
into the very heart of the enemy's country, 
without baggage, base or lines of communi- 
cation, and pushed forward, fighting battle* 
day after day. On the first of May we fought 
the rebels at Fort Gibson, capturing several 
hundred prisoners and five guns, and then 
moved on towards Jackson, the capital oi 
Mississippi. Grant's masterly campaign, 
while apparently threatening an immediate 
attack against the Gibraltar of the South, w<is 
really intended to prevent General Pember- 
ton, the Pittsburg commander, from forming 
a junction with General Johnston's troops, then 
in the vicinity of the State capital. 

A letter written from Rocky Springs, May 
7th, gives the following description of the 
march towards Jackson, and the fruits of ap- 
pealing to the sword : 

" The army is slowly advancing into the heart of 
Mississippi, with Jackson in front, and Port Gibson 
eighteen miles behind. The pale blossom of the mag- 
nolia peeps out among the foliage, and fills tho air 
with its delicious odor. The road is skirted with lord- 
ly plantation grounds, no longer covered with cotton, 
but vast corn-fields, pregnant with stores for tho 
Confederate army. We fi-equently come upon resi- 
dences of raro beauty, with airy verandas, and gar- 
dens of evergreen and May rosea-, but the stragglers 
of the army have made complete havoc of everything 
in the shape of provisions, portable wares of value, 
and even furniture. Frequently, mirrors, sideboards, 
wardrobes, and libraries are wantonly demolished 
and trodden under foot. Soldiers in Uncle Sam'? uni- 
form are jostling each other through parlor and bed- 
chamber, opening bureaus and scattering the con- 
tents on the floor, or smoking and hobno'jbing witS 
some member of the family on the door-t'lep. Whc 
would have dreamed when the people oi this region^ 
one hvyliday morning, commenced voting Mississippi 
rut of the Union, that this gai-den spot, separated hf 
hundreds of mdes and hundreds of thousands of 
strong armc, w^'dd echo the roar of battle, and feel 
the- terrible desolation of civil war ? It ia a dismaJ 
pictur3 of the ' bitte^ end,' which tho defenders cf 
treason have so flippantly tplked of. Thi« condition 
ot things has been almost a necessity vrif.i our army. 
It made a forced march with three days' rations, srni 
no transportation that deserves tho namo— general 
officers frequently being on foot. Henca both food 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



and wagons had to l>e procured from tht surround- 
inij country, 

" Our column on the march is a most motley car- 
avan. EvL-ry regiment is followed by a retinue of 
negroes and mules, the extent, if not quality of which, 
would have done honor to an Eastern Sheik. Wag- 
ons, carts, carriages, and buggies of every description 
fill up the train. Clnckona and gobblers hang on the 
saddles. Droves of cattle and sheep, urged on by 
frantic negi-ocs, mounted on ' bare-bones,' mingle 
with the artillery and baggage wagons. 

" Notwithstanding the necessities of the army, 
they cannot justify the wanton vandalism ot Our sol- 
diery. I have been personally witness to scenes of 
pillage which would emulate that of the followers of 
Attila. I allude to this subject again, because I con- 
sider it the duty of a faithful historian to tell the 
whole truth in reference to the operations of the 
army. It is but justice to the troops to add that 
these outrages are perpetrated principally by strag- 
glers, who belong to the same category with the 
" vultures " that rifle the dead on the field of battle. 
They do not ' represent the animus of the army as a 
whole. And an order has emanated from headquar- 
ters within a day or two which it i% hoped will cor- 
rect the evil hereafter. 

Another letter, written six (lays later, at 
Raymond, eigliteen miles soutlnvest of Jack- 
soni, gives us an account of army movements 
previous to the capture of the capital of Mis- 
sissippi, and shows how successfully Grant's 
masterly movements defeated and puzKled the 
rebels on his march from the Mississippi : ' ' 

" A combination of circumstances placed it out of 
my power to send you an account of the march of the 
army from Hankinson's Ferry to this place sooner. 
"When I last wi-ote, General McClernaud was on the 
extreme right, with Osterhaus's division advanced 
to Kocky Springs. General McPherson, at that time, 
lay, with fiis army corps, to the westward, near Han- 
kinson's Ferry, on a road running nearly parallel to* 
McClemand. General Sherman was on the road be- 
tween Grand Gulf and General McPherson. On 
Thursday, the 7th instant, General McPherson moved 
his corps to Rocky Springs also, and his camp was 
occupied next day by General Sherman. On Sat,ur- 
day, McPherson again moved to the eastward, to 
the village of Utica, crossing the road occupied by 
McClemand, and leaving the latter on his left. 
Sunday morning McClemand marched to Five Mile 
Creek, and encamped on the south bank at noon, on 
account of broken bridges, which were repaired the 
same day. 

" On Monday morning Sherman's corps came up, 
passed McClernand's, and encamped that night at 
the village of Auburn, about ten miles south of Ed- 
ward's Station, on the railroad from Vicksburg to 
Jackson. As soon as it passed, McClernand's corps 
followed a few mijes, and then took a road going 
obliquely to the left, leading to Hall's Ferry, on the 
Big Black River. Thus, on Monday evening. Gen- 
eral McClernand was at Hall's Ferry ; General Sher- 
man was at Auburn, six or eight miles to the north- 
east ; and General McPherson was about eight miles 
still further to the northeast, a few miles north of 
Utica, The whole formed an immense line of battle ; 



53 

Sherman's corps being in the centre, with those of 
McPherson and McClemand tomimg the riglit and 
left wings. It will be observed, also, that a change 
of front had been etlectod. From Grand (iulf, the 
army marched eastwai-d, but, by tliese movements, 
swung on the left as a pivot, and fronted nearly 
northward. 

"Up to this the enemy had not appeared on our 
line of march. On Tuesday morning, General Mc- 
Clernand's advance drove in the enemy's pickets 
near llall's FeiTy, and brisk skirmishing ensued tor 
an hour or two, with little loss to either side. By 
noon the rebels had disappeared Irom his front, and 
seven wounded and none killed was the total Union 
loss. General Sherman put Steele's division in mo- 
tion early in the morning, and came upon the enemy 
at the crossing of Fourteen Mile Creek, four miles 
from Auburn. The cavalry advance was fired into 
from the thick woods that skirt the stteam, and were 
unable, owing to the nature of the ground, to make a 
charge, or clear the rebels from their position. Land- 
graber's Battery was thrown to the front, supported 
by the 17th Missouri and 31st Iowa regiment.i, and 
threw a few shell into the bushy undei-giowtli skirt- 
ing the stream which gave them cbver. Skinnishers 
were thrown out and advanced to the creek, driving 
the enemy slowly. A brigade was thrown to the 
right and left flanks, when the rebel force— mainly 
cavalry— withdrew toward Raymond. The bridge Wiu» 
burned during tlie skirmish, but a crossing was erm- 
structed in two hours, and trains were passing belore 
noon. 

" But the principal opposition to the line of march 
was in the front of General McPherson. General 
Logan's division came upon a body of rebel tnwps, 
estimated at about ten thousand, posted on Fondren s 
Creek, two miles southwest ot this, at ten o'clock 
Tuesday morning. Brisk skirmishing began at onco, 
and a general engagement was soon brouglit on. The 
enemy (as in front of General Slierman) was almost 
wholly concealed, at first, by the woods bordering the 
stream, behind which their forces were posted. Their 
artillery w;is on an eminence that commanded our 
approach. Our troops had to cross an o[)en tield, ex- 
posed to a terrible flre. The first and second brigades, 
commanded by General J. E. Smith, and General 
Dennis (both Illinois men), were in the thickest of 
the fight, and suffered most. After three hours hard 
fighting, the enemy withdrew sullenly ia two col- 
umns, the principal one ticking the road to Jackson. 
The Union loss in killed, wounded, and missing will 
not be far from 30n, wliilc the rebel loss is much 
greater, probably fiOO. 

" To night General Grant's headquarters are here. 
General Sherman is six miles fnjin here, on the road 
to Jackson. General McPherson pushed northward 
this afternoon to Chnton (a station on the railro:i.; , 
ancl has at length cut the arterj- that animates the 
American Gibniltar. Its reduction now is only a 
question of time. Its surrender ia, to my mind, made 
certain. 

" From intercepted dispatches, General Grant learns 
that General Pembefton has instructed his forces to 
fall hack on Vickshui-g whenever hard pressed, anr 
that the rebels have resolved to stake all on their 
final ahility to hold the place. With the railmnd in 
our possession t the eastward, the river patrolled by 
gunboats above and below, and cavalry dashing 



54 



LIFE AND CAMPATONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



south-ward from Memphis, the fate of the doomed 
and ill-st:iiTed city ot Vicksburg is irrevocably 
sealed. The escape of the forces now in it seems im- 
possible. 

" No fears need be felt for the supplies of General 
Grant's army. Corn, salt meats, and live stock are 
abundant everywhere. The soldiers are well fed and 
■well satisfied. At a review, a few days ago, General 
Grant's appearance on the field was the signal for 
such an outbreak of iiniversal enthusiasm as rarely 
ever greeted the heroes of ancient or modern days. 
The soldiers seemed to be giving vent to a long pent- 
up admiration for their old commander, and woke 
the echoes of the State with shouts and yells. Noth- 
injr like it was ever before observable in this depart- 
ment. Animated with such a spirit, our army is 
■well, nigh in\incible. 

" P. S.— The rebels lost 80 killed, 140 wounded, and 
186 taken prisoaers, yesterday. Union loss 31 killed 
and SO wounde<l. So say my latest informants. 

"By making demonstrations on Hawkinsville and 
Hall's Ferries, General Grant has succeeded in com- 
pletely deceiving the enemy as to the real point of 
attack. General Pemberton has been sending troops 
to both places, while we have quietly marched to this 
point, and will probably march to Jackson in two 
days at furthest.'* 

On the 14th of May we defeated General 
Johnstons array, and captured Jackson ; on 
the 16lh we ,fo light the bloody battle of Cham- 
pion Hill ; on the 17lh, again defeated Peni- 
berton's army at the Black River Bridge, and 
on the 19th, Grant's forces completely invested 
Vicksburg on the north, east, and south — 
Porter with his fleet guarding the river — and 
the siege — one of the most famous in history 
— began. It was justtwenty days since Grant's 
army crossed from the west side of the river, 
and entered upon that splendid and memora- 
ble cnmpaign. ■ In that brief time, he had 
marched more than two hundred miles, beaten 
two armies in five battles, captured nearly one 
hundred cannon, and killed or made prisoners, 
upwards of twelve thousand of Johnston's and 
Pemberton's armies. Two assaults were made 
on the rebel stronghold by our troops, but 
they were both unsjuccessful, and attended by 
a severe loss in killed and wounded. Badeau, 
in his admirable military history of General 
Grant, says : — 

" The assault was in some respects vnp^ralloled in 
the wars of modern times. No attack on fortifica- 
tions of such strength had ever been undertaken by 
the great European captains, unless the assaulting 
party outnumbered the defenders by at least three to 
one. In the great sieges of the Peninsulj.r war the 
disproportion was even greater still. At Bad.ajos, 
"Wellington had flfty-one thousand men, eighteen 
thousand of whom were in the final assault, while 
the entire French garrison numbered only five thou- 
sand ; the British loss in the assault alone was thir- 
ty-five hundred. At Ciudad Rodrigo, "Wellington 



had tliirty-flve thousand men, and the French lisss 
than two thousand, not seventeen hundred being 
able to bear arms ; the British loss was twelve hun- 
dred and ninety, seven hundred and ten of these at 
the breaches ; while only three hundred Frenchmen 
fell. But Badajos and Rodrigo were carried. 

" In the second assault on Vickburg, Grant had, in 
his various columns, about thirty thousand men en- 
gaged ; of these he lost probably three thousand in 
killed and wounded. He, however, was m«t by an' 
ai-my, instead of a gaiTison. Pemberton, according 
to his own statement, put eighteen thousand five 
hundred meft in the trenches. It was, t}ierefore, no 
reproach to the gallantry or soldiership of the army 
of the Tennessee that it was unable to carry works of 
the strength of those which repelled it, manned by 
troops of the same race as themselves and in num- 
bers so nearly, equal to their own. Neither can the 
.■generalship which directed this assaxilt be fairly cen- 
*sured. The only possible chance of break ing through 
such defences and defenders was in massing the 
troops, so that the weight of the columns should be 
absolutely irresistible. But the broken, tangled 
ground, where often a company could not advance 
by flank, made massing impossible ; and this could 
not be known in advance. The rebels, too, had not 
shown in the week preceding the assault any of the 
determination which they displayed behind' their 
carthern walls at Vicksburg ; the works at the Big 
Black river also were impregnable, it they had beon 
well defended ; and Grant could not know before- 
hand, that Pemberton's men had recovered their for- 
mer mettle, any more than he could ascertain, with- 
out a trial, how inaccessible were the acclivities and 
•how prodigious were the difficulties which protected 
these reinvigorated soldiers. But Badajos wasthrico 
besieged and oftener assaulted ere it fell ; and the 
stories of Saguntum and Saragossa prove, that 
Vicksburg was not the only citadel which long resist- 
ed gallant and determined armies." 

The war produced nothing more 'vivid in 
pictorial-poetical form than the following lit- 
tle gem, descriptive of a fan>iliar incident of 
the first assault on Vicksburg, May 19, 1863. 
The dramatis persona of this livviff poem are 
General Sherman and a drummer-boy of the 
Fifteenth Corps: 

While Sheman stood beneath the hottest fire. 

That from the lines of Vicksburg gleamed, 
And bombshells tumbled in their smoky gyre. 
And grape-shot hissed, and case-shot screamed • 
Back from the front there came, 
Weeping and sorely lame, 
The merest child, the youngest face 
Man ever saw in such a fearful place, i 

Stifling his tears, he limped his chief to meet ; 

But when he pau.sed, and tottering stood. 
Around the circle of his little feet 
There spread a pool of bright, young blood. 
Shocked at his doleful ease, 
Sherman cribd, " Halt ! front face t 
Who are you ? Speak, my gallant boy I " 
" A drummer, sir— Fifty-fifth Illinois." 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT 

Only send 



65 



" Are you not hit ! " " That's nothin; 

Some caifti'idgeg, our men are out ; 
And the foe press us." " But, my little friend—" 
" Don't mind me I Did you hear that shout f 
What if our men be driven ? 
Oh, for the love of Heaven, 
Send to my colonel, general dear ! " 
" But you t" " Oh, I shall easily find the rear." 

" I'll see to that," cried Sherman ; and a drop 

Angels might envy, dimmed his eye. 
As the boy, toiling' toward the hiU's hard top, 
Turned ixmnd, and, with his shrill child's cry, 
Shouted, " Oh, don't forget 1 
"We'll win the battle yet ! 
But let our soldiers have some more, 
More cartridges, sir— calibre fifty-four ! " 

« 

We cannot follow the slow progress of tliis 
famous sioge of forty-six days, but miist con- 
tent ourselves with a statement of the fruits 
which followed as a result of Grant's dogged 
perseverance. 

On the 3d of July overtures were made for 
a surrender, and at 10 o'clock on Saturday, 
the 4th of July, the garrison of A''icksburg 
marched out of Uie lines it had defended, and 
stacked its arras in front of tlie conquerors. 
A letter written at the lime gives the follow- 
ing description of the scene : 

"Aa melfincholy a sight as ever man witnessed— 
for brave men, coaquered and humbled, no matter 
how vile the cause for which they fight, present 
always a sorrowful spectacle ; and these foes of ours, 
traitors amd enemies of liberty and civilization 
though they be, are brave, as many a hard-fought 
field can well attest. They marched out of their 
entrenchments by regiments upon the grassy de- 
clivity immediately outside their tort ; they stacked 
their artos, hung their colors upon the centre, laid 
Off their knapsacks, belts, cartridge-boxes, and cap- 
pouches; and thus shorn of the accoutrements of 
the soldier, returned inside their works, and thence 
down the Jackson road into the city. The men 
"«-ent through the ceremony with thai downcast 
look so touching on a soldier's face ; not a word 
•was spoken ; there was none of that gay badinage 
we are so much accustomed to heat from the ranks 
i)f regiments maiching through our streets ; the few 
words of command necessary wore given by their 
■Own othcers in that low tone of Voice vre hear used at 
funerals. Generals McPherson, Logan, and romey, 
attended by their respective staffs, stood on the rebel 
breastworks, overlooking the scene never before wit- 
nessed on this continent. The rebel troops, as to 
Clothing, presented that varied appearance so famil- 
iar in the North from seeing prisoners^ and were 
from Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Geor- 
gia, an(^ Missouri. The arms were mostly muskets 
&nd rifles of superior excellence, and I saw but very 
few shot-guns, or indiscriminate weapons of any 
kind. It was plain that Tcmberton had a splendidly 
appointed army. Their flag.; were of a kind new to 
toe, all I saw being cut ia about the same dimen- 



sions as our regimental colors, all of the single color 
(red), with a wliite cross in the centre. 

" The ceremony of stacking arms occupied a little 
over an hour upon that part of the hues ; and when 
it was concluded, the glittering cavalcade of officers, 
Federal and rebel, mounted and swept cit)-wartl on 
the full gallop, through such clouds of dust as I hope 
never to ride through agam. A low minutes, fortu- 
nately, brought us to a lialt at a house ou the ex- 
treme outskirts of the city, built of stone, in the 
Southern fashion, with low roof and wiile venindiiH, 
and almost hidden from view in an exuberance of 
tropical trees, and known as Forney's headquarters. 
" And here were gathered all tlie notables of both 
armies. In a damask-cushioned armed nxiking-chair 
sat Lieutenant-General rembei-t^)n, the most di-scon- 
tented-looking man I ever saw. I'resently there ap- 
peared in the midst of the throng a man small in 
stature, heavily-set, stoop-shouldered, a broad fiica 
covered with a, sliort sandy beard, habited in a plain 
suit of blue flannel, with the two stars upon his 
shoulder denoting a major-general in the United 
States army. He approached I'emberton, and en- 
tered into conversation with liim. There was no 
vacant chair near ; but neither Pemberton nor any 
of his generals offered him a seat ; and thus for Ave 
minutes the conqueror stood talking U) the van- 
quished seated, when Grant turned away into the 
house, and left Pemberton alone with his pride or 
his grief, it wa* hard to tell which. Grant has the 
most impassive of faces, and seldom, if ever, arc his 
feelings photographed upon his countenance ; but 
there was then, as he contemplated the result of his 
labors, the faintest possible trace of inward satisfac- 
tion peering out of his cold grey eyes. Ail thia oocu- 
picd less time than this recital of it ; and, meantime, 
offlcei-s of both armies were comTningkd, conversing 
as sociably as if they had not been aiming at each 
otlier's lives a few hours before. Gcnci-ala AlcPhcr^ 
son and Logan now turned back toward our camps 
to bring in the latter's division ; and a party, specially 
detailed, galloped cityward, about a mile distant, for 
the purpose of hoisting the flag over the court- 
house. 

" Lieuteuant-Oolonel "William E. Strong, assisted 
by Sergeant B. F. Dugan, Fourtli company, Ohio 
Independent cavalrj-, and followed by a numerous 
throng of officers, soldiers, and civilians, aseendc-d 
to the cupola of the court-house ; and at half-paat 
eleven o'clock, on the 4th of July, bSiiJ, flung out our 
banner of beauty and glory to the breeze." 

In another letter, written a few days latfT, 
we stated that " Vicksburg, which was really 
a handsome city, with good public buildings 
and many fine residences, surrounded with 
well-kept and beautifal gardens, giving evi- 
dence of wealth, good taste, and general ))i-os- 
perity, has now, a pre-eminently neglected, 
and war-worn appearance. Some degree or 
kind of devastation marks almost every ob- 
ject you see, and in the exceptional cases you 
meet with dust, decay, and neglect. Many 
houses are pierced, others perforated by shot 
and shelU The pillars of piazzas are knocked 



66 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



down, and doors and windows smashed. The 
shops are all closed, and present a dusty and 
deserted appearance, and in many of the 
streets you have to be on the qui vive to avoid 
falling into holes made by our shells. The 
streets near to, and running parallel with the 
river, are barricaded by breastworks and rifle- 
pits, as a means of defence against attacks by 
our gunboats. 

At every available place caves were dug. In 
these caves, which vary greatly in size, the 
women and children sought shelter from our 
shot and shell. The largest one in the city 
is that of Mr. Thrift, being cut through a hill 
about a hundred feet in length. In this cave, 
through which a person can walk erect, are 
four apartments, the largest one being perimps 
sixteen feet square, and furnished with a car- 
pet, table, chairs, &c. Here his family, in- 
cluding several daughters, lived during the 
forty -six days that our 



' Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon in front of them, 

Volleyed and thundered.' 



In another smaller room, the servants were 
quartered. In the third, was stored their food 
and forage for the cow and hogs, quietly so- 
journing out of the way of all danger in the 
next apartment. During the day many ladies 
issued out from caves, taking their chances by 
successful dodges. We met two sisters who 
prided themselves upon their expertness in 
getting out of the way of shells, as if it were 
quite a ladylike accomplishment. 

When the news of the surrender of Vicks- 
burg, with thirty thousand prisoners, and 
nearly two himdred guns, reached Washington, 
Grant was immediately made a Major-Gene- 
ral in tlie regular army, a position which in 
the second year of the war, he looked forward 
to as the height of earthly ambition. The 
General-in-chief in his annual report, in allud- 
ing to the campaign, thus speaks of Grant: 
" When we consider the character of the 
country in which the army operated, the for- 
midable obstacles to be overcome, the num- 
ber of forces, and the strength of the enemy's 
works, we cannot fail to admire the courage 
and endurance of the troops, and the skill mid 
daring of their cmmnander. No more brilliant 
•xploit can be found in military history." 
U was this great victory that drew forth from 



the President that gem of a letter,* which de- 
serves to be printed in letters of gold, in 
which he makes the acknowledgment to 
Grant, " you were right and I was wrong.'"' 
The national gain was the least of the fruits 
of the success ; for as the capture of Fort Don- 
elson expelled the rebel forces from Kentucky 
and the greater part of Tennessee, so the cap- 
ture of Vicksburg re-opened the great Father 
of Waters to trade and navigation, and drove 
the enemy from a good portion of the State 
of Mississippi. 

The results accomplished by the successful 
campaign and siege are thus briefly stated in 
Grant's official report : 

" The result of this campaign has been the defeat 
of the enemy in five battles outside of Vicksburg, the 
occnpation of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi 
and the capture of Vicksburg, and its garrison, and 
munitions of war ; a loss to the enemy of 37,000 pris- 
oners, among -whom were 15 general ofBcers ; at least 
10,000 killed and wounded, and among the killed Gens. 
Tracy, TUghman, and Green ; and hundreds, perhaps 
thousands of stragglcrs,who can never be collected and 
reorganized ; arms and munitions of war for an 
army of 60,000 men have fallen into our hands, beside 
a large amount of other public property, consisting 
of railroads, locomotives, cars, steamboats, cotton, 
etc." 

An oflicer of the army received a note from 
General Grant, written on the day he entered 
Vicksburg, stating that before the 10th of that 
month. Port Hudson would surrender to the 
forces of General Banks. With what wonder- 
ful accuracy he calculates results, is shown 
by the fall of the other rebel stronghold with- 
in the time. The surrender of Port Hudson 
was the natural sequence to the fall of Vicks- 
burg. Grant, it is said, adroitly managed to 
have a dispatch, which he sent to Banks, say- 



* Executive Mansiott, \ 
Washington, July 13, 1863. ) 
Major-General Geakt : 

My Dear General— I do not remember that you 
and I ever met personally. I write this nsw as a 
grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable 
service you have done the country. I wish to say 
I a word further. When you fkst reached the vicinity 
i of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you fin- 
ally did — march the troops across the neck, nin th» 
batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; and 
I never had any faith, except a general hope that you 
knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition 
and the like could succeed. When you got below and 
took Port Gibson, Grand Gull and \-ieimty, I thought 
you should go down the river and join General Banks, 
and when you turned northward, east of the Big 
Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to 
make the personal acknowledgment that you were 
right and I was wrong. A. Lincoln. 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GR^VNT. 



57 



ing that he would johi him on a certain day, 
hitercepted, and this caching General Gard- 
ner, the commander at Port Hudson, the place 
was immediately surrendered and the Missis- 
sippi flowed " mivexed to the sea." 

The national ejoicing and the grateful ad- 
Tniration of the whole loyal land, was expressed 
by many poets, among others by Alfred B. 
Street, who sang : 

Vicksburg is ours ! 

Hurrah ! 
Treachery cowers ! 

Hurrah ! 
Down reels the rebel rag ! 
Up shoots the starry flag ! 

•» * * ♦ 

Vickburg is ours I 

Hurrah! 

Aich the green bowers ! 
HuiTuh ! 
Arch o'er the hero who 
Nearer and nearer drew, 
Letting wise patience sway, 
Till, from his brave delay, 
Swift is the lightning's ray. 
Bounded he to the fray, 
Pull on his fated prey ; 

Thundering upon his path. 
Swerving not, pausing not. 
Darting steel, raining shot, 
In his fierce onset, hot 

With his red battle wrath ; 
Hashing on, thundering on ; 
Pausing then once again, 
Curbing with mighty rein. 
All his great heart, as vain 
"Writhed the fierce foe, the chain 
Tighter and tighter round. 
Till the reward was found— 
Till the dread work was done 
Till the grand wreath was won. 

Triumph is ours ! 

Hurrah I 

Just before General Grant initiated his splen- 
did campaign against Vicksburg, and after all 
the preparations had been made for sweeping 
loose from the base of supplies on the Missis- 
sippi river, to make the circuitous inland 
march, via Jackson to the rear of the 
" Western Gibraltar," he was called upon by 
General Slierman, and addressed as fol- 
lows : " General Grant, I feel it to be my 
duty, to say that as a subordinate officer, I am 
bound to give you my hearty co-operation in 
this movement, but having no faith in it, I 
feel it due to my military reputation to pro- 
test against it in writing, and hojie that my 
protest will be forwarded by you to Wash- 
ington." 

" Very well, Sherman," quietly replied the 



commanding General ; " send along your pro- 
test, I'll take care of it," 

The next day. Grant received Sherman's 
paper, and the movement was then initiated, 
wiiich culminated in the surrender of Vicks- 
burg and its immense garrison — the largest 
capture of men and materials ever made in 
war; at Ulm, Napoleon received thirty thou- 
sand men and sixty pieces of cannon, a num- 
ber, says Alison, " unparalleled in modern 
warfare." Prior, however, to Peinberiun's 
capitulation, but after it was morally certain 
that the rebel stronghold must fall, General 
Sherman rode up to Grant's headquarters one 
day, and found his chief stretched on the 
ground beneath his ''fly," endeavoring to keep 
as cool as possible in the sultry midsummer 
weather. They were chatting pleasantly on 
the prospects of the quickly approaching suc- 
cess, when General Grant's adjutant-general 
came up, and asked for a certain official pajjer 
which he had in his possession. Taking a 
handful of documents from his breast pocket, 
a receptacle wliich was always plethoric with 
papers, he selected the one that had been called 
for, and before putting the rest away, drew 
forth a second paper from the pile. Then 
turning to Sherman, with a smile and a merry 
twinkle in his eye, he said : " By the by, Gen- 
eral, here is something that will interest you." 
Sherman took it and saw the " protest," which 
two months before he had handed to General 
Grant, to be forwarded to Washington through 
the proper channel. An expression of aston- 
ishment and gratification diff'used itself over 
Sherman's bronzed features, which quickly 
changed to one of supreme satisfaction, when 
Grant took the document from his hand, and 
tearing it into small fragments, scattered them 
to the winds. No further allusion to the sub- 
ject was made on either side. 



CHAPTER Vin. 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIOS. 

A model letter — Grant goes to New Orleans— At- 
tends a grand review — Is thrown from his horse- 
Seriously injured — Returns to Vicksburg — Assign- 
ed to an enlarged command — Goes to Chattanooga 
— His plans — Battles of Missionary Ridge and 
Lookout Mountain — Another great victory — 
Thanks of Congress— A gold medal — Grade of Lieu- 



5^ 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



tenant-General revived— Grant nominated for the 
position— Goes to Washington— Presentation of 
^ his commission by the President. 

" Hold Chattanooga at all hazards." 

Grant to Thomas. 

•' I will hold it till we starve." 

Thomas to Grant. 

The campaign of the army of the Tennessee 
having ended, General Grant paid a visit to 
the various districts of his department. Tlie 
Chamber of Commerce of the city of Mem- 
phis, during his visit to that post, presented 
him with a series of resohitions, offering him 
the hospitality of the city, and proffering him 
a complimentary dinner. The following reply, 
which is a model of modesty, simplicity and 
noble sentiment, is worthy of a place in this 
stoiy of his life : 

" Memphis, Tenn., August 26, 1863. 

«' Gentlemen :— I have received a copy of resolu- 
tions passed by the ' loyal citizens of Memphis, at a 
meeting held at the rooms of the Chamber of Com- 
merce, August 25, 1SG3,' tendering me a public re- 
ception. 

"In accepting this testimonial, which I do at a 
great sacrifice of my personal feelings, I simply de- 
sire to pay a tribute to the first public exhibition in 
Memphis of loyalty to the government which I rep- 
resent in the Department of the Tennessee. I should 
dishke to refuse, tor considerations of personal con- 
venience, to acknowledge, anywhere or in any form, 
the existence of sentiments which I have so long and 
80 ardently desired to see manifested in this depart- 
ment. The stability of this government and the 
unity of this nation depend solely on the cordial sup- 
port and the earnest loyalty of the people. "While, 
therefore, I thank you sincerely for the kind expres- 
sions you have used towards myself, I am profound- 
ly gratified at this public recognition, in the city of 
Memphis, of the power and authority of the govern- 
ment of the United States. 

" I thank you, too, in the name of the noble army 
which I have the honor to cominaaid. It is compos- 
ed of men whose loyalty has bRen proven by their 
deeds of heroism and their vrilling sacrifices of life 
and health. They will rejoice with me that the mis- 
erable adherents of the rebellion, whom their bayo- 
nets have driven from this fair land, are being re- 
placed by men who acknowledge human liberty as 
the only true foundation of human government. 
May your efforts to restore your city to the cause of 
the Union be as successful as has been theirs to re- 
claim it from the despotic rule of the leaders of the 
rebellion. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your 
very obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 



The dinner took place at the Wortham 
House, and was attended by Adjutant-General 
Thomas, the Mayor and Corporation of the 
city, and a large nun^ber of civil and military 
guests. After dinner came the speeches. 



toasts and responses. The following toast 
was given : 

" General Grant— the Guest of the city." 
This was the signal for the wildest ap- 
plause, and it was some minutes ere order 
could be restored. It was expected that 
General Grant would be brought to his feet 
by this ; but the company was disappointed 
upon perceiving that instead his place was 
taken by his staff surgeon, Dr. Hewitt, who 
said : 

" I am instructed by General Grant to say that, as 
he has never been given to public speaking, you will 
have to excuse him on this occasion, and, as I am 
the only member of his staff present, I therefore feel 
it my duty to thank you for this manitestation of 
your good will, as also tl>e numerous other kind- 
nesses of which he has been the recipient ever since 
his arrival among you. General Grant believes that 
I in all he has done he has no more than accomplished 
a duty, and one, too, for which no particular honor is 
due. But the world, as you do, will accord other- 
wise." 

At a late hour in the evening General 
Grant, in reply to a request to that effect, ap- 
peared upon the balcony, and in a brief speech 
thanked those present for the honor tendered 
him. 

In a letter to a friend dated August, 1863, 
General Grant gave in the following words, 
his view on the question of slavery : 

" The people of the North need not quarrel over the 
institution of slavery. What Vice President Stevens 
acknowledges as the corner stone of the Confederacy 
is already knocked out. Slavery is already dead, and 
cannot be resurrected. It would take a standing army 
to maintain slavery in the South, if we were to make 
peace to-day, guaranteeing to the South all their for- 
mer constitutional privileges. I never was an aboli- 
tionist, not even what would be called anti-slavery, 
but I try to judge faiily and honestly, and it became 
patent to my mind, early in the rebellion, that the 
North and South could never live at peace with each 
other except as one nation, and that without slavery. 
As anxious as I am to see iieace established, I would 
not, therefore, be wiUmg to see any settlement until 
this question is forever settled." 

Early in Setember, Grant visited New Or- 
leans for the purpose of consulting with Gen- 
eral Banks about their future plans, and while 
there, a grand review occurred at Carrollton 
—a few miles above the Crescent City — of 
the 19th (Franklin's), and ISlh army corps 
(Ord's), the latter having been sent early in 
August by order of the War Department from 
Vicksburg to New Orleans. " As good troops," 
wrote the hero of Vicksburg to Banks, " as 
ever trod American soil ; wo better- are found oti 
any other" The review took place September 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



59 



5th, in the presence of Generals Grant, Banks, 
■\Vaslibiirne, Herron, Stone, Thomas, the Adju- 
lanl-General of'the United Stales army, and 
other minor military magnates. What a mag- 
nificent spectacle! What cheers'-rent the air 
as the historic colors of the old Tliirteenth 
Corps dipped to the hero of Yicksburg, as he 
l)assed along tlie lines, followed by a brilliant 
cortege of captains and staff oflicers, who 
had great difficulty in keeping up with tiie 
General as he dashed along at a full gallop. 
•In truth I hey did not keep up, but the bril- 
liant cavalcade of general and staff officers 
were left by the hero of Vicksburg, stringing 
along behind, " like the tail of a kite," on a 
magnificent charger borrowed from Banks. 
Taking his position under a grand old oak, the 
troops j)assed in review before Grant, moving 
along with that easy, careless, accuiate swing, 
■which bespeaks the old Western campaigner. 
And the flags they carried ! Terrible is an 
army with banners — if those banners are torn 
by the shot and shell of a score of battles. 
Belmont, Donelson, Sliiloh, Arkansas Post, 
Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion 
Hill, Big Black, and Vicksburg, were the 
names written, not in le.ters, but in bullet- 
holes, on those dear old tattered and seedy 
looking rags. No bunting, however gay and 
gorgeous with new beauty, could be half so 
interesting to the thoughtful eye, and it was 
not surprising that the usually calm and col- 
lected Grant lifted his hat with reverence and 
deep feeling, as the grand old colors, sur- 
rounded by his old Shiloh and Vicksburg com- 
panion-in-arms, passed before him. 

Returning from the review, and while rid- 
ing at a rapid pace, accompanied by the 
writer, his spirited and strange steed took 
fright from seeing approaching a locomotive 
on the New Orleans and Carrollton railway, 
which runs along the highway, and threw the 
General. We found him insensible, and with 
the aid of some passers-by carried him into 
a road-side inn at Carrollton, when he soon 
recovered consciousness. 

From this very severe fall he was confined 
to his bed for twenty days, having received 
serious injuries, producing a lameness from 
which he did not recover for several months. 
On his return to Vicksburg Grant was allowed 
but a brief period to rest and recover from 
his accident ; the doubtful battle of Chicka- 
mauga — if indeed it was not a disastrous de- 
feat — again placed him on the war path. He 



was directed to proceed to Cairo as soon as 
lie was able to take the field, and lie at once 
proceeded to that point, accompanied by his 
staff and- headquarters. On his arrival ho 
was instructed by ILilleck to " inmiediately 
proceed to tiie Gait House, Louisviile| Ken- 
tucky, where you will meet an ollicer of the 
War Department with your orders and in- 
structions. You will take with you your stall, 
etc., for immediate operations in the field." 
This was on October ITth, and Grant at once 
started for Louisville, by rail. At Indianap- 
olis he was met bj' the Secretary of War, who 
brought with him an order invesiing him 
with the consolidated deparinients of ilie Cum- 
berland, Ohio and Tennessee, including all 
the territory between the AUeghanies and the 
Mississii)pi river, excepting that portion com- 
manded by General Banks, to be known as 
the Military Division of the Missi.ssippi. Mr. 
Stanton also brought two other orders, one re- 
taining Rosecrans in his previous command 
of the army and department of the Cumber- 
land, the other relieving him and substituting 
General George H. Thomas. Grant wa-s of- 
fered his choice, and at once niad»! it in favor 
of a change, his previous e.\])crience with 
General Rosecrans not being satisfactory. He 
was immediately relieved and Thomas a.ssign- 
ed to the vacant position. On assuming 
command of the new military division. Grant 
issued the following order : 

nr.ADQnARTF.Rs, MiLiTAUV DIVISION Or Tni: ) 
Mississipri, Louisville, Ky., Oot. IS, 18fi3. { 
In compliance with General Or<l«rs Xo. 337, of data 
Wasliington, D. C, October 16, lS(i3, tlicundcTiiKned 
hereby assumes command of the " Military l)i\Tsion 
of the Mississippi, embracinf^ the dep.irtments of the 
Ohio, of the Cumberland and of the Tennes-sec." 

The headquartei-s of the Militiiry Division of the 
Mississippi will bo in the field, where all the reports 
and returns required by the anny regulations and 
existinij orders will be made. 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

The day following he left Louisville for 
Chattanooga, after forwarding the followinsf 
dispatcli to General Thomas: "Hold Chatta- 
nooga at all hazards. I will be there as icon 
as possible." To which the stout old soldier 
replied at once : " I will hold the town till we 
starve ! " From Bridgeport Gr.uit proceede<i 
on horseback over roads almo'it impassable 
by reason of the rain, which rolled in torrents 
down the mountain sides Frequently the 
whole party had to dismount and lead their 
horses over unsafe places, or spots where it 
was impossible to cross on horseback. Grant, 



60 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



who was still suffering and lame, being car- 
ried in the arms of soldiers. Grant's presence, 
and the reinforcements constantly coming in 
under Hooker and Sherman, soon enabled the 
shul-io and suffering Union army to put Bragg 
— who hud looked down from the heights of 
Missionary Ridge upon them as his certain 
prey — on the defensive. Ignoring the word 
impossible, as Napoleon did, Grant, after her- 
culean and almost superhuman exertions, at 
leingth had everything in readiness, and sent 
his invincible legions, under his lieutenants. 
Granger and Hooker, Sherman and Sheridan, 
up those craggy mountain sides above the 
clouds, and won, on the 24lh and 25th days 
of November, the ever-memorable battles of 
Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. 
In lieu of any words of our own, we prefer 
to place before our readers the finest des(h"ip- 
tion of these battles, or oi any oiher of the 
war, from the pen of B. F. Taylor, an accom- 
plished writer, who was an eye-witness of the 
scene he so eloquently describes : 

" The iron heart of Sherman's column began to be 
audible, like the tall of great trees in the depth of the 
forest, as it beat beyond the woods on the e.-streme 
left. Over roads indescribable, and conquering- lions 
of difficulties that met him all the way, ho at length 
arrived with his command of the army of the Ten- 
nessee. The roar of his guns was like the striking 
of a great clock, and grew nearer and louder as the 
morning wore away. Along the centre all was still. 
Our men lay as tliey had lain since Tuesday night- 
motionless, behind the works. Generals Grant, 
Thomas, Granger, Meigs, Hunter, Reynolds, were 
grouped at Orchard Knob, here ; Bragg, Breckin- 
ridge, Hardee, Stevens, Cleburn, gates, "Walker, 
wei-e waiting on Mission Ridge, yonder. And the 
Northern clock tolled on ! At noon, a pair of steam- 
ers, screaming in . the river across the town, telling 
over, in their own wild way, our mountain triumph 
on the right, pierced the hushed breath of air be- 
tween two lines of battle with a note or two of the 
music of peaceful life. 

" At one o'clock the signal flag at Fort "Wood was 
a-flutter. Scanning the horizon, another flag, g;lanc- 
ing like a lady's handkerchief, showed white across a 
field lying high and dry upon a ridge three miles to 
the northeast, and answered back. The centre and 
Sherman's corps had spoken. As the hour went by, 
all semblance to falling tree and tolling clock had 
vanished ; it was a rattling roar ; the ring of Sher- 
man's panting artillery, and the fiery gust from t,he 
rebel guns on Tunnel Hill, the point of Mission 
Ridge. The enemy had massed there the corps of 
Hardee and Buckner, as upon a battlement, utterly 
inaccessible save by one steep, narrow way, com- 
manded by their guns. A thousand men could hold 
it against a host. And right in front of this bold 
Abutment of the ridge is a broad, clear field, skirted 
by woods. Across this tremendous threshold, un to 
death's door, moved Sherman's column. Twice it 



advanced, and twice I saw it swept back in bleeding 
lines before the furnace blast, until that russet field 
seemed some strange page ruled tliick with blue and 
red. But valor was in vatn ; they lacked the ground 
to stand on ; they wanted, like the giant of old story, 
a touch of" earth to make them strong. It was the 
devil's own corner. Before them was a lane, whose 
upper end the rebel cannon swallowed. Moving by 
the right flank, nature opposed them with precipitous 
heights. There was notliing for it but straight across 
the field, swept by at enfilading flre, and up to the 
lane down which drove the storm. They could un- 
fold no broad front, and so the losses were less than 
seven hundred, that must otherwise have swelled to 
thousands. The musketry fire was delivered witlf 
terrible emphasis. Two dwellings, in one of which 
Feaeral wounded men were lying, set on tire by the 
rebels, began to send up tall columns of smoke, 
streaked red with fire. The grand and the terrible 
were blended. 

♦ ■ * * * * ♦ 

" The brief November afternoon was half gone. It 
was yet thundering on the left ; along the centre all 
was stiU. At that very hour a fierce assault was 
made upon the enemy's left, near Rossville, four 
miles down toward the old field of 'Chickamauga. 
They carried the Ridge— Mission Ridge seems every- 
where ; they strewed its summit with rebel dead ; 
they held it. And thus the tips of the Federal army's 
wide-spread wings flapped grandly. But it had not 
swooped ; the grey quarry yet perched upon Mission 
Ridge. The rebel army was terribly battered at the 
edges ; but there, full in our front, it grimly waited, 
biding out its time. If the horns of the rebel ci-cscent 
could not be doubled crushingly together, in a shape- 
less mass, possibly it might bo sundered in its centre, 
and tumbled in fragments over the other side of Mis- 
sion Ridge. Sherman was halted upon the left ; 
Hooker was holding hard in Chattanooga "\'alloy ; the 
Fourth Corps, that rounded out our centre, grew im- 
patient of restraint. The day was waning ; but lit- 
tle time remained to complete the commanding 
General's grand design. Gordon Granger's hour had 
come ; his work was full before him. , 

" And what a work that was, to make a jveak man 
falter and a brave man think ! One and a-half miles 
to traverse, with narrow fringes of woods, rough val- 
leys, sweeps of open field, rocky acclivities, to the 
base of the ridge, and no foot in all the breadth with- 
di-awn from rebel sight ; no foot that could not be 
played upon by rebel cannon, like a piano's keys un- 
der Thalbcrg's stormy fingers. The base attained, 
what then ! A heavy rebel work, packed with the 
enemy, rimming it like a battlement. That work 
carried, and what then ? A hill, struggling up out 
of the valley tour hundred feet, rained on by bullets, 
swept by shot and shell ; another line of works, and 
then, up like a Gothic roof, rough with rocks, a wreck 
with fallere trees, four hundred more ; another ring 
of flre and iron, and then the crest, and then the en- 
emy. 

" To dream of such a journey would "be madness ; 
to devise it a thing incredible ; to ilo it a deed impos- 
sible. But Grant was guilty ot them all, and Gran- 
ger was equal to the work. The story ot the battle 
of Mission Ridge is struck with immortality already ; 
let the leader of the Fourth Corps bear it company. 

" That the centre yet lies along its silent line, is 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



61 



still true ; in five minutes it will be the wildest fic- 
tion. Let us take that little breath of grace for just 
one glance at the suiToundings, since we shall have 
neither heart uor eyes tor it again. Did ever battle 
have so vast a cloud of witnesses ? The hive-shaped 
hills have swarmed. Clustered like bees, blackening 
the housetops, lining the fortifications, over yonder 
across the theatre, in the seats with the Catilines, 
everywhere, are a liundred thousand beholders. Their 
souljs are in their eyes. Not a murmur can you hear. 
It is the most solemn congregation that ever stood 
up in the presence of the God of battles. I think of 
Bunker Hill, as I stand here — of the thousands who 
witnessed the immortal struggle — and fancy there is 
a parallel. 1 think, too, that tlie chair of every man 
of them will stand vacant against the wall to-morrow, 
and that around the fireside they must give thanks 
without him, if they can 

"At half-past three, a group of generals, whose 
names will need no ' Old Mortality ' to chisel them 
anew, stood ui^on Orchard Knob. The hero of Vicks- 
burg was there, calm, clear, persistent, far-seeing. 
Thomas, the sterling and sturdy ; Meigs, Hunter, 
(Granger, Reynolds. Clusters of humbler mortals were 
there, too, but it was anything but a turbulent crowd ; 
the voice naturally fell into a subdued tone, and even 
young faces took on the gTa\aty of later years. Gen- 
erals Grant, Thomas, and Granger conferred, an 
order was given, and in an instant the Knob was 
cleared like a ship's deck for action. At twenty 
minutes of four. Granger stood upon the parapet. 
The bugle swung idle at the bugler's side, the war- 
bling fife and the grumbling di'um unheard : there 
was to be louder talk — six guns at intervals of two 
seconds, the signal to advance. Strong and steady 
his voice rang out : ' Number one, fii'e ! Number 
two, fire ! Number three, fire ! ' It seemed to me 
the tolling of the clock of destiny. And when, at 
• Number six, fire ! ' the roar throbbed out with the 
Hash, you should have seen the dead line that had 
been lying behind the works all day, all night, all iay 
again, come to resuiTection in the twinkling of an 
tjye, leap like a blade from its scabbard, and sweep 
with a two-mile stroke toward the ridge. From di- 
visions to brigades, from brigades to regiments, the 
order ran. A minute, and the skirmishers deploy ; a 
minute, and the first great drops begin to patter 
along the line ; a minute, and the musketry is in full 
play, like the crackling whips of a hemlock fire. 
Men go down here and there before your eyes. The 
wind lifts the smoke, and drifts it away over the top 
of the Ridge. Everything is too distinct; it is fairly 
palpable : you can touch it with your hand. The di- 
visions of Wood and Sheridan are wading breast deep 
in the valley of death. 

" I never can tell you what it was like. They 
pushed out, leaving nothing behind them. There 
jwas no reservation in that battle. On moves the 
line of skirmishers, like a heavy frown, and after it, 
at quick time, the splendid columns. At right of us, 
and left of us and front of us, you can see the bayo- 
nets glitter in the sun. You cannot persuade your- 
self that Bragg was wrong, a day or two ago, when, 
seeing Hooker moving in, he said, ' Now we shall 
have a Potomac review ;' that this is not the parade 
he prophesied ; that it is of a truth the harvest of 
death to which they go down. And so through the 
tnnge oi woods went the line. Now, out into the 



open ground they burst at the donble-quick. Shall 
I call it a Sabbath day's jourm-y, or a long one and a- 
half mile ? To inu that watched, it st-ciiied endli-HS 
as eternity; and yet tlicy made it in thirty miuult.'s. 
The tempest that now broke uixm tliuir Leudii wm» 
terrible. The enemy's fire burst out of the rifie-pitij 
from base to summit of Mission Ilidge ; live rebel 
batteries of Tarrotts and Napoleonjioiicnwl alon? the 
crest. Grape and canister, and shot and jiheU Howed 
the ground with rugged iion, and gi-riiished it with 
the wounded and the dead. But btcudy .md ^lnmg 
our columns moved on. 

By heaven ! it was a splendid sight to see, 
i"or one who had no friend, no brothel there ;' 

but to all loyal hearts— alas ! and tlinnk God— those 
men were friend and brother, both in one. 

" And over their heads as they went, Forts Wood 
ind Negley struck straight out, like mighty putril- 
ists, riglit and left, raining their iron blows upon the 
Ilidge from base to crest ; Forts Fulmer and King 
took up the quarrel, and Moccasin Foint cnickod it« 
tier>' whips, and Lishcd tlie rebel left, till the wolf 
cowered in its corner witli a growl. Briilge's batterj", 
from Orchard Knob below, thrust its iHindcrous flstd 
in the face of the enemy, and planted blows at wilL 
Our artillery was doing splendid service. It laid its 
shot and shell wherever it pleased, lljid giantii car- 
ried them by hand, they could hardly liave been 
more accurate. All along the mountain's side, in the 
rebel rifle-pits, on the crest, they fairly dotted the 
Ridge. General Granger leape<l down, siglited a ^n, 
and in a moment, right in front, a great volume of 
smoke, like ' the cloud hf day,' lifted off tlie summit 
from among the rebel batteries, and hung motionless, 
kindling in the sun. 'The shot had struck a caisvon, 
and that was its dying breath. In five minutes away 
floated another. A shell went crashing through a 
building in the cluster that marked Bragg's head- 
quarters ; a second killed the skeleton liorses of a 
battery at his elbow ; a third scattered a grey ma&s 
as if it had been a wasp's nest. 

" And all the while our lines were moving on. 
They had burned through the woods and swept over 
the rough and rolling ground like a prairie fire. 
Never halting, never tiiltering, they charged up 
to the first rifle-pits with a cheer, forked out the 
rebels with their bayonets, and lay there panting 
for breath. If the thunder of guns hiul l>een terrible, 
it was now growing sublime ; it was like the footfall 
of God on the ledges of cloud. Our forts and batte- 
ries still thrust out their mighty arms across the val- 
ley. The rebel guns that lined the arc ot the crest 
full in our front, opened like the fan of Lucifer, and 
converged their fire down upon Bainl, and Wood, 
and Sheridan. It was rifles and musketry; it wn« 
grape and canister ; it was shell and shni))nel. His- 
sion Ilidge w;i3 volcanic ; a thousand tom'nts of red 
poured over its brink, and rushed together to ita base. 
And our men were there, halting for breath I And 
still the sublime diapason rolled on. Echoes that 
never waked before, roared out from height to height, 
and ciiUed from the far ranges of Waldmn's Ridge 
to IxKikout. As for Mission Ridge, it h.ul jarrM to 
such music before, it was the ' sounding hoard ' of 
Chickamauga. It wa.s behind n» then ; it frowns and 
flashes ia our face to-day. The old army of the 



62 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Cumberland was there. It breasted the storm till 
the stonu was spent, and left the ground it held. 
The old army of the Cumberland is here ! It shall 
roU up tbe Ridge like a surge to its summit, and 
sweep triumphant down the other side. Believe me, 
that memory and hope may have made mauy a bluo- 
coat beat like a brum. ' Beat,' did I say .' The fev- 
erish heart of the haUU beats on ; fifty-eight guns a 
minute, by the watch, is the rate of its terrible throb- 
bing. That hill, it you climb it, will appal you. Fur- 
rowed like a summer fallow, bullets as if an oak had 
shed them ; trees clipped and shorn, leaf and limb, 
as with the knife of some heroic gardener pruning 
back for richer fruit. How you attain the summit, 
weary and breathless, I wait to hear ; how they went 
up in the teeth of the storm, no man can tell. 

"And all the while, rebel prisoners have been 
streaming out from the rear of our lines like the 
tails of a cloud of kites. Captured and disarmed, 
they needed nobody to set them going. The' fire of 
their own comrades was like spurs in a horse's flanks, 
and, amid the tempest of their own brewing, they ran 
for dear life, until they dropped like quails into the 
Federal rifle-pits, and were safe. But our gallant 
legions are out in the storm ; they have carried the 
works at the base of the Ridge ; they have fallen like 
leaves in winter weather. Blow, dumb bugles ! 

" Sound the recall ! ' Take the rifle-pit ! ' was the 
order; andiitis'as empty of rebels as the tomb of 
the prophets. Shall they turn their backs to the 
blast ; Shall they sit down under the eaves of that 
dripping iron ? Or shall they climb to the cloud of 
death above them, and pluck out its lightnings as 
they would straws from a sheaf of wheat ? But the 
order was not given. And now the arc of fire on the 
crest grows fiercer and longer. The reoonnoissance 
of Monday had failed to develop the heavy metal of 
the enemy. The dull fringe of the hill kindles with 
the flash of great guns. I count the fleeces of whfle 
smoke that dot the Ridge, as battery after battery 
opens upon our line, until from the ends of the grow- 
ing arc they sweep down upon it in mighty X's of 
fire. I count till that devil's girdle numbers thirteen 
batteries, and my heart cries out, ' Great God, when 
shall the end be J ' There is a poem I learned in 
childhood, and so did you ; it is Campbell's ' Hohen- 
linden.' One line I never knew the meaning of, un- 
til I read it written along that hill ! It has lighted 
up the whole poem for me with the glow of the bat- 
tle forever : 

' And louder than the bolts of heaven, 
Far flashed the red artillery.' 

" At this moment. General Granger's aids are dash- 
ing out with an order. They radiate over the field, 
to left right and front. ' Take the Ridge, if you can ! ' 
• Take the Ridge if you can ! ' and so it went along 
the line. But the advance had already set forth 
without it. Stout-hearted Wood, the iron-grey veter- 
an, is rallying on his men ; stormy Turchin is deliv- 
ering brave words in bad English ; Sheridan—' Little 
Phil ' — you may easily look down upon him without 
climbing a tree, and see one of the most gallant lead- 
ers of the age, if you do— is riding to and fro along 
the first line of rifle pits, as calmly as a chess player. 
An aid rides up with the order. ' Avery, that flask,' 
said the general. Quietly filling the pewter cup, 



Sheridan looks up at the battery that frowns above 
hnn, by Bragg's headquarters, shakes his cap amid 
that storm of everything that kills, when you could 
hardly hold your hand without catching a bullet in 
it, and, with a ' How are you ? ' tosses off the cup. 
The blue battle-flag of the rebels fluttered a response 
to the cool salute, and the next instant the battery let 
fly its six guns, showering Sheridan with earth. M- 
luding to that compliment with anything but a blank 
cartridge, the General said to me, in his (juiet way, 

' I thought it ungenerous ! ' The recoitling 

angel will drop a tear upon the word for the part he 
played that day. Wheeling toward the men, he 
cheered them to the charge, and made at the hill like 
a bold riding hunter. They were out of tlie rifle-pita 
and into the tempest, and struggling up the steep, 
before you could get breath to tell it ; and so they 
were throughout the inspired line 

" And now you have before you one of the most 
startling episodes of the war. I cannot render it in 
words ; dictionaries are beggarly things. But I may 
tell you they did not storm that mountain as you 
would think. They dash out a httle way, and then 
slacken ; they creep up, hand over hand, loading and 
firing, and wavering and halting, from the first line 
of works to the second ; they bur.'!t into a charge 
with a cheer, and go over it. Sheets of flame baptize 
them ; plunging shot tear away comrades on left and 
right ; it is no longer shoulder to shoulder , it is God 
lor us all ! Under treiS trunks, among rooks, stum- 
bling over the dead, struggling with the living, facing 
the steady fire of eight thousand infantry poured 
down upon their heads as if it were the old historic 
curse from heaven, they wrestle with the Ridge. 
Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes go by, like a reluctant 
century. The batteries roll like a drum. Between 
the second and last lines of rebel works is the ton-id 
zone of the battle. The hill sways up like a wall bo- 
fore them at an angle of forty-five degrees, but our 
brave mountaineers are clambering steadily on— up 
— uijward still ! You may think it strange, but I 
would not have recalled them if I could. They 
would have lifted you, as they did mo, in full view 
of the heroic grandeur. They seemed to be spurning 
the dull earth under their feet, and going up to do 
Homeric battle with the greater gods. 

" And what do those men follow? If you look, 
you shall see that the thirteen thousand are not 
a rushing herd of human creatures ; that, along the 
Gothic roof of the Ridge, a row of inverted V's is 
slowly moving up almost in line, a mighty lettering 
on the hill's broad side. At the angles of those V's 
is something that glitters like a wing. Your heart 
gives a great bound when you think what it is — the 
rcgimentalJlag—a.nCL, glancing along the front, count 
fifteen of those colors, that were borne at Pea Ridge, 
waved at Shiloh, glorified at Stone River, riddled 
at Chickamauga. Nobler than Ctesar's rent mantle 
are they all ! And up move the banners, now flutter- 
ing like a wounded bird, now faltering, now sinking 
out of sight. Three times the flag of one regiment 
goes down. And you know why. Three dead color 
sergeants lie just there. But the Jlag is immortal, 
thank God '. and up it comes again, and the V's move 
on. At the left of Wood, three regiments of Baird— 
Turchin, the Russian thunderbolt, is there- hurl 
themselves against a bold point strong with rebel 
works. For a long quarter of an hour three flags are 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



68 



perched and motionless on a plateau under the frown | 
of the hill. Will they linger forever ? I give a look I 
at the suli behind rno ; it is not more than a hand's 
breadth from the edge of the mountain ; its level rays 
bridge the valley from Chattanooga to the Ridge 
with beams of gold ; it shines in the rebel faces ; it 
brings out the Federal blue ; it touches up the flags. 
Oh, for the voice that could bid that sun stand still '. 
I turn to the battle again ; those three flags have 
taken flight I They are upward bound. 

" The race of the flags is growing every moment 
more terrible. There, at the right, a strange thing 
catches the eye ; one of the inverted V's is turning 
right side tip. The men struggling along the con- 
verging lines to overtake the flag, have distanced it, 
and there the colors are, sinking down in the centre 
between the rising flanks. The line wavei-s like a 
great billow, and up comes the banner again, as if 
heaved on a surge's shoulder. The iron sledges beat 
on. Hearts loyal and brave are on the anvil, all the 
way from base to summit of Mission Ridge, but 
those dreadful hammers never intermit. Swarms 
of bullets sweep the hill ; you can count twenty- 
eight balls in one little tree. Things are growing 
desperate up aloft. The rebels tumble rocks upon 
the rising line ; they light the fuses and roll shells 
down the steep ; they load the guns with handfuls 
of cartridges in their haste ; and, as if there were 
X)Owder in the word, they shout, ' Chickamauga ! ' 
down \ipon the mountaineers. But it would not all 
do; and just as the sun, weary of the scone, was 
sinking out of sight, with magniflcent bursts all 
along the line, exactly as you have seen the crested 
seas leap up at the breakwater, the advance surged 
over the crest, and in a minvite those flags fluttered 
along the fringe where fifty rebel guns were ken- 
nelled. God bless the flag ! God save the Union ! 

" What colors were first upon the mountain bat- 
tlement I dare not try to say ; bright honor itself 
may be proud to bear— nay, proud to follow, the 
hindmost. Foot by toot they had fought up the 
steep, slippery with much blood; let them go to 
glory together. A minute, and they were all tWero, 
fluttering along the Ridge from left to right. The 
rebel hordes rolled off to the north,,rolled off to the 
east, like the clouds of a worn-out storm. Bragg, 
ten minutes before, was putting men back in the 
rifle-pits. His gallant grey was straining a nerve 
for him now, and the man rode on horseback into 
Dixie's bosom, who, arrayed in some prophet's dis- 
carded mantle, foretold on Monday that the Yankees 
would leave Chattanooga in five days. They left in 
three, and by way of Mission Ridge, straight over 
the mountains as their forefathers went ! As Sheri- 
dan rode up to the guns, the heels of Breckinridge's 
horses glittered in the last rays of sunshine. That 
crest was hardly ' well off with the old love before it 
was on with the new'.' 

" But the scene on the narrow plateau can never 
be painted. As the blue-coats surged over its edge, 
cheer on cheer rang like bells through the valley of 
the Chickamauga. Men flung themselves exhausted 
upon the ground. They laughed and wept, shook 
hands, and embraced ; turned round, and did all four 
over again. It was as wild as a carnival. Granger 
was received with a shout. ' Soldiers,' he said, ' you 
ought to be court-martialed, every man of you. I 
ordered you to take the rifle-pits, and you scaled the 



mountain ! ' But it was not Mar's hori'id front ex- 
actly with which he said it, for Iuh eheekH were wet 
with teai-s as honest us the bUxnl that nildencd 
all the route. Wo(«l uttered words that rang like 
Napoleon's; and Sherid.in, the niwebi ut hist horse's 
flanks, was ready for a dash down tho Uidgc, with a 
' view halloo,' for a fox hunt. 

" But you must not think this wiw all there waa 
of the scene on the crest, for fight and fmlic were 
strangely mingled. Not a rebel had driaminl a nuin 
of us all would live to reach the summit ; and when 
a little wave of the Federal cheer rolled up and broko 
over ths crest, they defiantly cried, ' JIumih, and be 

d d ! ' the next minute a Union regiment foll«wo<l 

the voice, the rebels delivcrred their fire, and tnmhlcd 
do\vn in the.rifle-pits, their faces distorttKl with fear. 
No sooner had the soldiers .scrambled to tho Uidgu 
and .straightened them.' elves, than up muskoti and 
away they blazed. One ot them, fairly Ix'sidi; liim- 
self between laughing and crying, seemed puzzled at 
which end of the piece he should lo:ul, and so, aban- 
doning the gun and the problem togi.-thcr, he made a 
catapult of himself, and fell to hurling stones after 

the enemy. And ho said, as he threw well, you 

know our '.army swore terribly in Flanders.' Bayo- 
nets glinted and muskets rattled. General Sheri- 
dan's horse was killed under him. Richard Wiks not 
in his. role, and so he leaped ujxm a rebel gun for 
want of another. Rebel artilltrists are driven from 
their batteries at the edge of the sword and the point 
of the bayonet. Two reb<-l guns an- swung around 
upon their old masters. But there is nobixly to load 
them. Light and heavy artillery ilo not bi'long to 
the winged kingdom. Two infantrj- men, claiming 
to be old artillerists, volunteer. Granger tum.-f cap- 
tain of. the gnns, and—' right about wheel ! '—in a 
moment they arc growling after the flying enemy. I 
say 'flying,' but that is figurative. The many run 
like Spanish merinos, but the few fight like grey 
wolves at bay ; they loail and fire as they retreat ; 
they are fairly scorched out of ixjsition. 

"A sharpshooter, fancying (franger to be worth 
the powder, coolly tries his liaiid at Ijim. The Gene- 
ral hears the zip of a ball at one ear, but doesn't 
mind it. In a minute, away it sings at the other. 
He takes the bint, 8weei)s with his ghiss the direction 
whence the couple came, and bring? up the marks- 
man, just drawing a beiul ujwn him a^ain. At that 
instant a Federal argument persuiules the cool hun- 
ter, and down he eoca. That long-range gun of his 
was captured, weighed twenty-four pounds, was tele- 
scope-mounted, a sort of mongrel howitzer. 

" A colonel is slashing away with his sabrs in a 
ring of rebels. Down go<.'s his horse under him. They 
have him on the hip. One of them is taking delibe- 
rate aim, when up rushes a lieutenant, daps a pistol 
to one ear, and roars in at the other, ' wlio the h— I 
are you shooting at T ' The fellow drops his piece, 
gasps out, ' I surrender !' and the next instant the 
gallant lieutenant falls sharply woundefl. Ho is a 
' roll of honor ' officer, straight up from the rank*, 
and he honors the roll. 

"A little German in Wood's division is pierced 
like the lid of a pepper-box, but he is neither dead 
nor wounded. See here,' he says, nishinjf up to a 
comrade ; ' a pullet hit te preach of mine (run, a pul- 
let in mine pocketbook, a pullet in mine coat-tail ; dey 
shoots me tree, five time, and I gives dem h— 1 yet '. ' 



64 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" But I can vender you no idea of the battle caul- 
dron that boiled on the plateau. An incident here 
and there I have given you, and you must fill out the 
picture for yourself. Dead rebels lay thick around 
Bragg's headquarters and along the Ridge. Scab- 
bards, broken arms, artillery horses, wrecks of gun- 
carriages, and bloody garments strewed the scene. 
And, tread lightly, oh, loyal-hearted! the boys in 
blue are lying there. No more the sounding charge ; 
no more the brave, wild cheer ; and never for them, 
sweet as the breath of the new-mown hay in the old 
home fields, ' The Soldier's Return from the War.' 
A little waif of a drummer-boy, somehow drifted up 
the mountain in the surge, lies there ; his pale face 
upward, a blue spot on his breast. Mutile his drum 
for the poor child and his mother. 

" Our troops met one loyal welcome on the height. 
How the old Tenncsseean that gave it managed to 
get there, nobody knows ; but there he was, grasping 
a coloners hand, and saying, while the tears ran 
down his face, 'God be thanked ! I knew the Yan- 
kees would fight ! ' "With the receding flight and 
Bwift pursuit, the battle died away in murmurs, far 
down the valley of the Chickamauga. Sheridan was 
again in the saddle, and, with his command, spur- 
ring on after the enemy. Tall columns of smoke 
■were rising at the left. The rebels were burning a 
train of stores a mile long. In the exploding rebel 
caissons we had ' the cloud by day,' and now we are 
having ' the pillar of fire by night.' The sun, the 
golden disc of the scales that balance day and night, 
had hardly gone down, when up, beyond Mission 
Eidge, rose the silver side, for that night it was full 
moon. The troubled day was gone. A Federal gen- 
eral sat in the seat of the man who, on the very Sat- 
urday before the battle, had sent a flag to the Federal 
lines with the words : 

" ' Humanity would dictate the removal of all non- 
combatants from Chattanooga, as I am about to shell 
the city ! ' " 

Colonel McKinstry, of General Bragg's staff, 
told the author that he considered their posi- 
tion perfectly impregnable, and that when he 
saw our troops, after capturing the rifle-pits, 
coming up the craggy mountain side, bristling 
with bayonets and hundreds of cannon, he 
could scarcely credit his eyes, and thought 
every man of them must be drunk. History 
has no parallel for sublimity and picturesque- 
ness of effect; while the consequences, which 
was the division of the Confederacy, were ines- 
timable. Grant announced his great victory 
in the following brief and modest dispatch to 
the General-in-chief of the army at Washing- 
ton : " Although the battle lasted from early 
dawn until dark this evening, I believe I am 
not premature in announcing a complete vic- 
tory over Bragg. Lookout Mountain-top, and 
all the rifle pits in Chattanooga valley and 
Missionary Ridge entire have been carried, 
and are now held by us." General Meigs, 
Quartermaster-General of the United States 



army, who was on the ground with Grant 
during the brilliant campaign, wrote as fol- 
lows to the Secretary of War : 

" Bragg's remaining troops left early in the night, 
and the battle of Chattanooga, after days of manoeu- 
vering and fighting, was won. The strength of the 
rebellion in the centre is broken. Burnside is re- 
lieved from danger in East Tennessee. Kentucky 
and Tennessee are rescued. Georgia and the South- 
east are threatened in the rear, and another victory 
is added to the chapter of 'Unconditional Sun'ender 
Grant.' To-night the estimate of captures is several 
thousand prisoners and thirty pieces of artillery. 
Our loss for so gi-eat a victory is not severe. Bragg 
is firing the railroad as he retreats toward Dalton. 
Sherman is in hot pursuit. To-day I viewed the bat- 
tle-field, which extends for six miles along Mission- 
ary Ridge, and for several miles on Lookout Moun- 
tain. Probably not so well-directed, so well-ordei'ed 
a battle has taken place during the war. But one 
assault was repulsed ; but that assault, by calling to 
that point the rebel reserves, prevented them repuls- 
ing any of the others. A few days since, Bragg sent 
to General Grant a flag of truce, advising him that it 
would be prudent to remove any non-combatants 
who might be still in Chattanooga. No reply has 
been returned ; but the combatants having removed 
from the vicinity, it is probable that non-combatants 
can remain without imprudence." 

Again President Lincoln personally acknow- 
ledged General Grant's irresistible determina- 
tion and skill by sending him the following 
telegram : 

Washington, Dec. 8, 1863. 

MAJOK-OENEnAL GRANT :— Understanding that 
your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville is now 
secure, I wish to tender you,, and all under your 
command, my more than thanks— my profoundest 
gratitude — for the skill, courage, and perseverance 
with which you and they, over so great difficulties 
have effected that important object. God bless you 
all. A. Lincoln. 

We must again refer to the report of the 
General-in-chief, in which, alluding to the 
campaign in the Chattanooga mountains and 
valley, he says : " Considering the strength 
of the rebel position, and the difficulty of 
storming his entrenchments, the battle of 
Chattanooga must be considered the most re- 
markable in history. Not only did the officers 
and men exhibit great skill and daring in 
their operations on the field, but the liighest 
praise is due to the commanding general for 
his admirable dispositions for dislodging the 
enemy from a position apparently impregna- 
ble." 

On the 10th of December, General Grant 
issued the following congratulatory order to 
the armies under his command — a self-pos- 
sessed and noble tribute from an unassuming, 
magnanimous heart, which calls to mind some 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



65 



of the orders of the Duke of "Wellington, whom 
Grant in so many particulars strongly resem- 
bles: 

Headquarteks Military Division of the ) 
Mississippi, in the Field, { 

Chattanooga, Tenn., Dec. 10, 1803. ) 
The general coramandinj takes this opportunity of 
returning liis sincere thanks and congratulations to 
the brave armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, the 
Tennessee, and their comrades from the Potomac, for 
the recent splendid and decisive successes achieved 
over the enemy. In a short time you have recovered 
from him the control of the Tennessee River from 
Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dislodged him from 
his great stronghold upon Lookout Mountain, drove 
him from Chattanooga Valley, wrested from his de- 
termined grasp the possession oi Missionary Ridge, 
repelled with heavy loss to him his repeated assaults 
upon Knosville, forcing him to raise the siege there, 
driving him at all points, utterly routed and discom- 
fited, beyond the limits of the State. By your noble 
heroism and determined courage, you have most 
eftectually defeated the plans of the enemy for re- 
gaiuing possession of the States of Kentucky and 
Teuuessee. You have secured positions from which 
n.T rebellious power can drive or dislodge you. For 
jili this the general commanding thanks you collec- 
tively and individually. The loyal people of the 
United States thank and bless you. Their hopes 
and prayers for your success against this unholy 
rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you 
will not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. 
Tiieir prayers to Almighty God will be answered. 
You will yet go to other fields of strife ; and, with 
the invinaible bravery and unflinching loyalty to 
justice and right which have characterized you in 
the jiast, you will prove that no enemy can with- 
stand you, and that no defences, however formida- 
ble, can check your onward march. 

By order of Major-Oeneral U . S. Grant. 

On the 17th of the same month Congress 
unanimously voted a resolution of thanks to 
Grant and the officers and soldiers who had 
fought under his command during the rebel- 
lion, and a gold medal was struck, which it was 
provided that the President should present to 
General Grant " in the name of the people of 
the United States of America." It was de- 
signed by Leutze. On one face of the medal 
is a profile likeness of the hero, surrounded 
by a wreath of laurels, his name and the year 
of his victories inscribed upon it ; the whole 
surrounded by a galaxy of stars. On the ob- 
verse is a figure of Fame, seated in a graceful 
attitude on the American eagle, whicli, with 
wings outspread, seems about to take flight. 
In her rigtit hand she holds her trumpet, and 
in her left a scroll, on which are inscribed 
Corinth, Yicksburg, Mississippi River, and 
Cliattanooga. On her head is an Indian hel- 
tnet with radiating feathers. In front of the 



eagle is the emblematical shield of the United 
States. Below the group sprigs of the pine 
and palm, denoting the North and South, 
cross each other. Above the figure of Fame, 
in a curved line, is tiie motto, " Proclaim Lib- 
erty throughout the land." Tlie edge is sur- 
rounded, like the obverse, by a circle of 
Byzantine stars, more in number llian tlie 
existing States, thereby suggesting further 
additions in the future to the Union. 

The author had the honor of being at the 
White House one evening in March, 1864, 
when Mr. Washburne called with tlie Secre- 
tary of State to exhibit the medal to Mr. 
Lincoln before tlie first-mentioned gentleman 
— Grant's steadfast friend — proceeded to City 
Point to formally present it to the Lieutenant- 
General. After the' President had looked for 
some time at the face the writer remarked, 
" Mr. President, what is on the obverse of the 
medal ? " to which, with a merry twinkle in 
his eye, he said : " Well, Seward, I suppose, 
by the obverse, our friend the Colonel means 
t'other side," 

Our hero, after nearly three years continu- 
ous service, and having gained nearly a score 
of victories, in wliicli he had captured nearly 
five hundred cannon and ninety thousand 
prisoners, in January, 1864, obtained per- 
mission to visit St. Louis, where his eldest 
son was lying dangerously ill. He soon re- 
covered, and we may add, en passant, is now 
a promising cadet at the United States Mili- 
trry Academy, West Point, where his illus- 
trious father graduated i;i 1843. A month 
later a debate arose in the House of Repre- 
sentatives on the question of reviving the 
grade of Lieutenant-General, with a view to 
conferring that rank upon Grant, an office 
held onl\- in our history by Washington and 
AVinfield Scott, tho latter having merely the 
brevet rank. The lion. E. B. Washburne, 
of Illinois, said, speaking of his Galena towns- 
man: 

*' Look at what this man has done for his country, 
for humanity and civilization— this modest and un- 
pretending General, whom gentlemen appear to be so 
much afraid of. He has fought more battles and won 
more victories than any man living ; he ha-s captured 
more prisoners and taken more guns than any gene- 
ral of modern times. To us in tho great valley of 
the West, he has rendered a service in ojwning our 
great channel of communication to the ocean, so' 
that the great ' Father of Waters ' now gwes ' unvez- 
ed to the sea,' which endears him to all our hearts. 
Sir, when his blue legions crowned tho crest of Vicks- 
burg, and the hosts of rebeldom laid their &xma at 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRAKT. 



the feet of this great conqueror, the rebel Confede- 
racy was cut in twain, and the backbone of the re- 
belliou brol^eu. 

" At that moment was seen in General Grant that 
greatest of all gifts of a military man— the gitt of 
deciding; instantly amid the i«-ussure of the greatest 
emergi^ncies. I was with him when Porter reiwrted 
his inability to reduce the batteries', and in an in- 
stant he made his new disiwsitions, and gaVe his or- 
ders. They were, to debark all his troops and march 
them down three miles below Grand Gulf ; ' and,' 
said he, ' after nightfall I will run every transport I 
have below their batteries, and not one shall be in» 
jured.' And, sure enough^ when it became dark. 
Porter again attacked the batteries with his lleet, 
and, amid the din and clatter of the attack, the trans- 
ports all safely passed Grand Gulf. 

" And that which must ever be regarded by the his- 
torian as the most extraordinary feature of this cam- 
paign, is the astounding fact, that when General Grant 
landed in the State of Mississippi, and made his cam- 
paign in the enemy's country, he had a smaller force 
than the enemy. There he was, in the enemy's coun- 
toy, cut off, in a measure, from his suppUes, with a 
great river in his rear, and in one of the most defensi- 
ble of countries, through whicJi he had to pass. To his 
indomitable courage and energy, to his unparalleled 
celerity of movement, striking the enemy in detail, 
and beating him on every field, is the country in- 
debted for those wonderful successes of that cam- 
paigh, which have not only challenged the gratitude 
and admiration of our own countrymen, but the ad- 
miration of the best mihtary men of all nations. 
My colhiague (Mr. Famsworth) has well said, that 
General Grant is no ' carpet knight.' If gentlemen 
could know him as I know him, and as soldiers know 
him, tliey would not bo so reluctant about confer- 
ring this honor. If they could have seen him as I 
saw him on that expedition ; if they could have wit- 
nessed his terrible earnestness, his devotion to his 
duty, his care, his vigilance, and his unchallenged 
courage, I think their opposition to this bill would 
give way. 

" But gentlemen say, wait, and confer this rank 
■when the war is over. Sir, I want it conferred now, 
because it is my most solemn and earnest conviction 
that General Grant is the man upon whom we must 
depend to fight out this rebellion in the field, and 
bring this war to a speedy and triumphant close." 

The bill was passed with only nineteen dis- 
senting voles, the President at once con- 
ferred the position Upon Grant, and the Sen- 
ate of the United Stales confirmed the ap- 
pointment. On the 3d of March Grant was 
called to Washington. "The Secretary of 
War," said the dispatch, " directs that you 
will report in person to the War Department 
as early as practicable, considering the con- 
dition of your command. If necessary, you 
will keep up telegraphic communication with 
your command while en route to Washington." 
The ue.M day he started for the national capi- 
ta!, SeiK^iog otf, before entering upon his jour- 
ney, the fuUowiiig private letter : 



Dear Shekman :— The bill reviving the grade of 
Lieutenant-General in the army has become a law, 
and my name has been sent to the t?enate for the 
place. I now receive orders to report at \\'ashington 
immediately m person, which indicates couhimationv 
or a likcUhood ot cvutirtnation. 

I start in the morning to comply with the order. 

While I have been eminently succostul in this war 
—in at least gaining the confidence ot the public— no 
one feels more than 1 bow much of this success is due 
to the energy, skill, and the harmonious putting 
forth of that energy and skill, of those whom it has 
been my good fortune to have occupying subordinats 
positions under me. 

There are many ofiicers to whom these remarks are 
applicable, to a gieater or less degree, proportionate 
to their ability as toldiers ; but what I want is to ex- 
press my thanks to you and McPherson, as the men 
to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for what- 
ever I have had of success. 

How far your advice and assistance have been of 
help to me you know. How far your executijn of 
whatever has been given you to do entitles you to 
the reward I am receiving, you cannot know aa well 
as I. 

I feel all the gratitude this letter would express, 
giving it the most flattering construction. 

The word 'you,' I use in the plural, intending it 
for McPherson also. I should write to him, and will 
some day, but, starting in the morning, I do not 
know that I will find time just now. 
Your friend, 

U. S. Gbant, Major-General. 

Sherman received this letter near Memphis, 
Tennessee, on the 10th of March, and imme* 
diately replied: 

Dear General :— I have your more than kind and 
characteristic letter of the 4th instant. I will send a 
copy to General McPherson at once. 

You do yourself injustice and us too much honor 
in assigning to us too large a share of the merits 
which have led to your high advancement. I know 
you approve the friendship 1 have ever professed to 
you, and Will permit me to continue, as heretofore, 
to manifest it on all proper occasions. 

Y'ou are now Washington's legitimate successor, 
and occupy a position of almost dansfcrous elevation ; 
but if you can continue, as heretofore, to be your- 
self, simi3le, honest, and unpretending, you will en- 
joy through life the respect and love ot friendsj and 
the homage of miUions of human beings, that will 
award you a large share in securing to them and 
their descendants a government of law and stability. 

1 repeat, you do GenPral McPherson and myself 
too much honor. At Belmont you manifested your 
traits, neither of us being near. At Donelson, alsO) 
you illustrated your whole character. I was not 
near, and General McPherson in too subordinate a 
capacity to influence you. 

Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was al- 
most cowed by the terrible array of anarchical ele- 
ments that presented themselves at cvti y ix)int ; but 
that admitted a ray of light I have followed smce. 

I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and jtist as tha 
great prototype, Washington ; as unselfish, kind- 
1 hearted, and honest a man as should be. But tho 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



67 



chief characteristic is the simple faith iu success you 
have always manifested, which I can liken to nothing 
else than the faith a Christian has in his Saviour. 

Ihis faith gave you victory at Shiloh and Vicks- 
burg. Also, When you Imve completed your prepara- 
tions, you go into battle without hesitation, as at 
Chattanooga— no doubts, no reserves ; and I tell you 
it was this that made us act with confidence. I knew, 
■Wherever I was, that you thought of me, and if I got 
in a tight place, you Would help me, if alive. 

My only point of doubt was in your knowledge of 
grand strategy, and of books of science and history ; 
but I confess your common sense seems to have sup- 
plied all these. 

Now as to the future. Do not stay in Washing- 
ton ; come West ; take to yourself the whole Missis- 
sippi Valley. Let us make it dead sure, and I tell 
you the Atlantic slopes and the Pacific shores will 
follow its destiny, as sm-e as the limbs of a tree live 
and die with the main trunk. We have done much, 
but still much remains. Time and time's influence 
are with us. We could almost afford to sit still and 
let these influences work. 

Here lies the seat of the coming empire ; and from 
the West, when our task is done, we will make short 
W'ork of Charleston and Richmond, and the impover- 
ished coast of the Atlantic. 

Your sincere friend, 

W. T. Shekman. 

These two charming letters, so character- 
istic of the men, and so honorable to both, 
cannot but be read with the greatest pleasure. 
The great soldier, on liis way to Washington 
to assume command of all the armies of the 
nation, issued ho windy proclamations or or- 
ders, he made no speeches ; but without any 
sound of trumpet or drum to herald his ap- 
proach, proceeded quietly and rapidly to 
Washington in pursuance of orders. When 
he was sometimes recognised at the railway 
stations, the people thronged around him, 
cheering lustily, and all striving to get a 
glimpse of the renowned soldier. AVhile en 
route he received the following magnanimous 
dispatch from General Ilalleck, whom he was 
about to supersede : " The Secretary of War 
directs me to say that your commission as 
Lleutenant-Oeneral is signed, and will be de- 
livered to you on your arrival at the War De- 
partment. I sincer^y Congratulate you on 
this recognition of your distinguished and 
meritorious services." On the 1st of JNIarch 
he arrived at Washington, wliere he had never 
spent more than one day before. iMr. Lin- 
coln had never seen him and the Secretary 
of War had never seen him but once. At 
one o'clock on the day following Grant was 
formally received by the President in the 
Cabinet chamber at the White House, and 
after being presented to the members of tiie^ 



Cabinet, Mr. Lincoln said : " General Grant, 
the nation's appreciation of what you have 
done, and its reliance upon you for what re- 
mains to be done in the existing great strug- 
gle, are now presented with this commission 
constituting you Lieutenant-General in the 
army of the United Slates. With this high 
honor devolves upon you also a corresponding 
responsibility. As the country hcieiu trusts 
you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I 
scarcely need to add, that with what I here 
speak for the nation, goes my own hearty 
personal concurrence." Grant's reply was : 
" Mr. President, I accept this commission 
with gratitude for the high honor conferred. 
With the aid of the noble armies tiiat have 
fought on so many fields, for our common 
country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to 
disappoint your expectations. I feel the full 
weight of the responsibilities now devolving 
on me ; and I know that if they are met, it 
will be due to those armies, and above all, to 
the favor of that Providence which leads both 
nations and men." 



CHAPTER IX. 
grant's last campaign. 

The President'fi order— Grant's announcement to tho 
armies — As-sumes command—" On to Kiclnnond " 
— Crosses the Kapidun — Battles of the Wilderness 
and Cold Harbor — Crosses James liivcr — .Sieg* ot 
Petersburg and Eiclimond — Battle of Fjyc Forks — 
Assault on Loe'g Army — Fall of the Kebel Capital 
— Siirrender of Lee— Gmnt's map-naniraity — His 
otflcial report of the campaign — Oiunions of tho 
reix)rt — Reviews at Washington — Addi-esa to the 
armies— Anecdotes of Grant. 

" I propose to %ht it out on this lino it it takes all 
summer." Geant to tue Goveiinment. 

Soon after receiving his commission, the 
Lieutenant-General left Washington for the 
Southwest, and was at Nashville when the 
President's order was issued promoting him 
to the supreme command. Grant immediate- 
ly announced it to the armies by embodying 
it in the following general order No. 1 : 

HEADQUAHTEns OF THE AkMTES OP TTTE VSTTSJ} J 

biATEs, Nashville, Tenn., March 17, 1864. ) 
In pursuance of the following oixlcr of the Presi- 
dent: 

"' Executiat: IMaxstos, WAsntNOTON, ) 
March 11, 18(i4. | 

" Under the authority of the act of Congress to ap- 



68 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GEMERAL GRANT. 



point to the grade of Lieutenant-General, of March 
1st, 18C4. Lieutemint-General Ulysses S. Grant, Uni- 
ted States army, is appointed to the command of the 
ai-mies of the United States. 

" Abkaham Lincoln." 
I assume command of the armies of the United 
States. Headquarters will be in the held, and, un- 
til further orders, will be with the army of the Po- 
tomac. There will be an office headquarters in . 
Washington, to which all official communications 
will be sent, except those from the army where the 
headquarters are at their address. 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

Six days afterwards he arrived in TVasIiing- 
ton, and to the inexpressible joy. of the na- 
tion, immediately established his headquarters 
in the field ; going there quietly and unosten- 
tatiously, without any sound of trumpet or 
shawm to herald his approach; he did not ad- 
dress his troops lying in winter quarters at 
Cnlpepper Court House ; issued no windy 
proclamations ; but resolutely and unflinch- 
ingly applied himself to the great work be- 
fore him, strengthening his army by the addi- 
tion of new troops, and by weeding out the 
disaffected and incompetent Generals of the 
Army of the Potomac, and by various new 
regulations and reforms in the ditierent de- 
partments. Balls were abolished, ladies also, 
from the army, for the days of fatiaj soldier- 
ing were past. All his energies were directed 
to preparation for the impending struggle. 
Labor omnia vincet, as Virgil hath it, was his 
motto. At last everything is in readiness, 
and the magnificent army is prepared for the 
conflict. 

Before the mandate went forth from Grant's 
headquarters for the legions of the North to 
march against the enemy, the following letters 
passed between the President and the Lieu- 
tenant-General, giving a gratifying evidence 
of the confidence existing between them : 

Lieutenant-Genekal Geant : 

Not expecting to see you before the spring cam- 
paign opens, I wish to express, in this way, my en- 
tire satisfaction with what you have done up to this 
time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of 
your plans I neither know uor seek to know. You are 
vigilant and self-reliant ; and, pleased with this, I 
wish not to obtrude any restraints or constraints 
upon you. While I am very anxious that any great 
disaster or capture of our men in great numbers 
shall be a%-oided, I know that these points are less 
likely to escape your attention than they would bo 
mme. If there beanythin,cr wanted which is within 
my power to give, do not fail to let me know it. And 
now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God 
sustain you. 

Yours, very truly. A. Lincoln. 



The Pkesidbnt : 

Your very kind letter of yesterday is just receiv- 
ed. The confidence you express fur the future, and 
satisfaction tor the past, in my military administra- 
tion, is acknowledged with pride. It shall be my 
earnest endeavor that you and the counti-y shall not 
be disappointed. From my first entrance into the 
volunteer service of the country to the present day, 
I have never had cause of complaint, have never ex- 
pressed or implied a complaint against the Adminis- 
tration, or the Secretary of War, for throwing any 
embarrassment in the way of my vigorously prosecu- 
ting what appeared to be my duty. Indeed, since 
the promotion which placed me in command of all 
the armies, and in view of the great responsibility 
and importance of success, I have been astonished at 
the readiness with which everything asked for has 
been yielded, without even an explanation being 
asked. 

Should my success be less than I desire and ex- 
pect, the least I can say is, the fault is not with you. 
Very truly, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

May- 3d the potent mandate goes forth to 
march, and on the 4th of May the Lieutenant- 
General, with his noble army, thoroughly or- 
ganized, crosses the Rapidan ; on the 5th and 
6th, cripples the principal host of the rebels 
commanded by Lee in the terrible battles of 
the "Wilderness ; flanks him on the left, fights 
at Spottsylvania Court House on the 7ih, 
again on the 10th, and still again on the 12th; 
on which occasion he captured a whole divis- 
ion of the Confederate army. 

The smoke of battle hung over the mighty 
combatants for six days, while the nation re^ 
mained in a state of suspense bordering upon 
agony, when, at length, there came from the 
Union commander to Lincoln another of those 
electrifying reports, containing an epigram- 
matic expression which has served to give 
him an immortal renown : " Ipropose to fg'i,t 
it out on this line if it takes all summer." 

Thus fighting and flanking, ever pursuing 
the offensive, and daily drawing nearer to the 
rebel capital, he at length drives the enemy 
within the defences at Richmond, and there 
holds him as in a vise, while he leaves to his 
sturdy lieutenants — Sherman, Sheridan, and 
Thomas — the more promising task of reaping 
a harvest of laurels by active movement and 
battle. But Grant's hour at last arrives. On 
the 29th of March, 1865, the summons went 
forth, and the grand old Army of the Poto- 
mac, that had been so driven back, but never 
broken or overcome, moved forward to vic- 
tory. One week of prodigious fighting and 
marching, and Lee with his " invincible army " 
at last yields to Grant's matchless and un- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



69 



equalled strategy, and the dear old flag once 
more floats over Richtn nd — not a fragment 
of Lee's once magnificent host in existence 
except as prisoners of war. With its dissolu- 
tion, and t!ie fall of the rebel capital, fell all 
hope of a Southern Confederacy. 



" WhUe stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand ; 
J- "When tails the Coliseum, Rome shall fall ; 
5 And when Rome falls, the world I " 

« 

The following graphic and touching descrip- 
tion of the surrender of Lee's army, written 
by an eye witness, of the scenes Avhich he de- 
lineates from a rebel standpoint — contains a 
glowing tribute to Grant. " There is no pas- 
sage of history in this heart-breaking war, 
which will, for years to come, be more honor- 
ably mentioned, and gratefully remembered 
than the demeanor, on the 9th of April, 1865, 
of General Giant towards General Lee. I do 
not so much allude to the facility with which 
honorable terms were accorded to the Confed- 
erates, as to the bearing of General Grant, 
and the officers about him, to General Lee. 
The interview was brief. Three commission- 
ers upon either side were immediately ap- 
pointed. The agreement to which these six 
conimissioTiers acceded is known. 

" In the mean time, immediately that Gen- 
eral Lee was seen riding to the rear mure' 
gayly dressed than usual, and begirt with his 
swoid, the rumor of imniediale surrender flew 
like wildfire through the Confederates. It 
might be imagined that an army, which had 
drawn its last rations on the 1st of April, and 
harassed incessantly by niglit and day, had 
been marching and fighting until the morning 
of the 9th, would have welcomed anything 
like a termination of its sufferings, let it come 
in what form it might. Let those who idly 
imagine that the finer feelings are the pre- 
rogative of what are called the ujiper classes, 
learn from this, and similar scenes, to appre- 
ciate common men. As the great Confeder- 
ate captain ro le back from his interview with 
General Grant, the news of the surrender ac- 
quired shape and consistency, and could no 
longer be denied. The effect on the worn 
and battered troops — some of whom had 
fought since April, 1861, and (sparse survi- 
vors of hecatombs of fallen comrades) had 
passed unscathed through such hurricanes of 
shot as within four years no other men had 
ever experienced, passes mortal description. 
" Whole lines of battle, rushed up to their 



beloved old chief, and choking with emotion, 
broke ranks, and struggled witii each other 
to wring him once mure by the hand. Men 
who had fought throughout the war, and 
knew what the agony and humiliation of that 
moment must be to him, strove, with a refine- 
ment of unselfishness and tenderness, which 
he alone could fully appreciate, to lighten his 
burden, and mitigate his pain. With tears 
pouring down both cheeks, General Lee at 
length commanded voice enough to say : 
• Jlen, we have fought through the war to- 
gether. I have done the best that I could for 
you.' Not an eye that looked on that scene 
was dry. Nor was this the emotion of sickly 
sentimentalists, but of rough and rugged men 
familiar with hardships, danger and death in 
a thousand shapes, nurtured by sympathy and 
feeling for another, which they never expe- 
rienced on their own account. I know of no 
other passage of military history so touching, 
unless, in spite of the melo-dramatic coloring 
which French historians have loved to shed 
over the sceni-*, it can be found in the Adieus 
de Fontainebleau." 

It remains for me briefly to notice the last 
parade of an army, whereof the exploits will 
be read with t)ride so long as the English 
tongue is spoken. In pursuance of an ar- 
rangement of t!ie six commissioners, the Con- 
federate army marched by divisions on the 
morning of April the l'2th, to a spot at the 
Appomattox Court House, where they stacked 
arms, and depo.sited accontreinents. U|)on 
this solemn oc?«ifeion, Major-General Gibbon 
repiesented the United States authorities. 
With the same exalted' and conspicuous deli- 
cacy which he had exhibited throughout the 
closing scenes. General Grant wa.s not again 
visible after his final interview with General 
Lee. About seven thousand eiglit hundred 
Confederates marched with their muskets in 
their hands, and were followed by about 
eighteen thousand unarmed stragglers, -Avho 
claimed to be included in the ca|)itulation. 
Each Confederate soldier was furnished with 
a printed form of parole, which was flileil up 
for him by his own ofl!icers. and a duplicate 
handed to a designated Federal officer. By 
the evening of thel2ih, the paroles were gen- 
erally distributed, and the disbaniled men be- , 
gan to scatter through the country. Hardly 
one of them had a farthing of monev. Some 
of them had from fifteen hundred to two 
thousand miles to travel, over a country of 



70 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



which the scanty railroads were utterly auui- 
hilated. 

We may judge of the sanguinary character 
of the campaign against Richmond, wljen 
we learn that the number of killed, wounded 
and missing on both sides, reached the enor- 
mous number of one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand men. Grant's vindication for this ne- 
cessary loss of life is contained in his official 
report concerning the military situation when 
he assumed the command of the Army of the 
Potomac and is regarded as complete by the 
judgment of the people. After sketching the 
posture of affairs, he says : 

" I therefore determined first to use the 
greatest number of troops practicable against 
the armed force of the enemy, preventing him 
from using the same force at different s-'asons 
against, first one and then another of our ar- 
mies, and the possibility of repose for refit- 
ting and producing necessary supplies for 
carrying on resistance. Second, to hammer 
continutmsly against the armed force of the 
enemy and his resources, until by mere attri- 
tion, if ill no other way, there should be nothing 
left to him but an equal submission with the 
loyal section of our common country to the 
Constitution of the land. Whether these 
views might have been better in conception 
and execution, is for the people who mourn 
the loss of friends fallen, and who have to 
pay the pecuniary cost, to say. All I can say 
is, that what I have done, has been done con- 
scientiously, to the best of my ability, and in 
what. I conceived to be for tj,* best interests 
of the whole country." 

An English journal cqmmenting on Grant's 
admirable Report, which we regret that we can- 
not give in full, and which it entitles Grant's 
Commentaries, very justly remarks : 

" General Grant's Report is about to be- 
come as famous as ' Caesar's Commentaries.' 
It is infinitely more important, for in the re- 
centcivil war in America Greek met Greek, and 
Grant encountered a more formidable foe than 
Caesar. At first the Report escaped attention. 
It came in a bundle of official documents, all 
figures and few arguments; but when the 
story of the campaign of 1864 was looked into, 
matter was found in it calculated to interest 
the world at present and for all future time. 

" General Grant neither writes nor thinks like 
an ordinary soldier— he is a philosopher, a 
historian, a profound statesman, and he sinks 
self in his narrative, but never fails to praise 



others with a palpable consciousness which be- 
speaks the utmost sincerity, in perfect keeping 
with personal admiration and liiendship. 

" The war had endured three } ears when he 
was called to the command of the army. 
' The call made him the saviour of his country.' 
Unobtrusive and humble-niinrled, though full 
of profound thoughts, his merits discovered 
themselves when the opportunity preseiUed 
itself. He was the man for the time and the 
place, and he was the only fully qualified one. 
Events approved of Lincoln's selection, for, 
where McClellan proved an abortion, Grant 
alone properly satisfied judgment. * * * 
Sheridan, the Murat of the Federal army, 
cleared the Shenandoah Valley of the enemy, 
joined the main army when his services were 
reciuired, and won the last great battle of a 
hundred fights. Grant takes pride in praising 
him, and on Sherman he pours the tribute of 
his unbounded admiration ; but as we liave 
recently published Grant's opinion of these 
two great soldiers, it is not necessary to intro- 
duce them here. General Grant's report will 
forever occupy the attention of soldiers, 
statesmen and nations." 

Certainly no other military document con- 
nected with the late war, possesses an equal 
interest to us. The prophecy contained in 
the extract quoted above, that the Report 
would become as famous as Ca;sar's commen- 
taries, is perhaps an extravagant prediction, 
but it is now and will most unquestionably ever 
continue to be looked upon as the most valua- 
ble official paper, connected with the war for- 
the maintenance of the Union. 

The London Times, not much given to 
praise of anything American, thus alludes to 
the great interest and importance, to Eurojiean 
powers, of General Grant's Report, and of the 
new system introduced by him into the art of 
war, during his Richmond campaign : 

" General Grant has addressed to Mr. Secre- 
tary Stanton a Report which is equivalent to 
a complete history of the civil war in its 
latest period. In this country we get no such 
elaborate description of events as American 
commanders are in the habit of compiling. 
Our generals address themselves to the War 
Office in dispatches, which may be published 
at a future time, and ultimately, perhaps, re- 
duced to the form of history ; but in the Uni- 
ted States both military and naval command- 
ers describe, explain and justify their own 
operations in Reports, which take the shape 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



71 



of connected and amusing narratives. In the 
present instance the interest concentrated iu 
the dociinieiit before us is extraordinary. 
General Grant was conimander-in-cliief of all 
the armies of the United States during the last 
and decisive j'ear of the war. We have been 
accustomed to regard him merely as com- 
mander of the Army of the Potomac, because 
he selected Virginia as the scene of his per- 
sonal exertions ; but the fact is that the Army 
of Virginia was actually under the command 
of Meade, just as the Army of Teiniessee was 
under the command of Sherman, while Grant 
himself not onlj' dictated the plan of the 
campaign, but exercised a direct supervision 
over all the armies at once. What renders this 
report, too, the more remarkable is that it ex- 
plains a neio, and as the event proved, a success- 
ful system of tactics, devised for the occasion. 
When Grant assumed the chief command, 
the Federal forces were making little progress, 
nor could anybody anticipate a speedy ter- 
mination of the war ; but the new commander 
adopted a new method of warfare, and the re- 
sult was, that in twelve months' time, the war 
was at an end. What this method was, on what 
princiijle it was based and how it was car- 
ried into execution is very intelligibly to'd. 

" At an ' early period of the rebellion,' 
General Grant had divined tlie secret of South- 
ern strength and Northern weakness. The Fed- 
erals were three lo one, at least in numbers, 
and immeasurably superior in material resour- 
ces, and yet the Confederates maintained their 
ground and defended their territories against 
all attacks. This, says Grant, was because 
the strength of the North was never exerted 
on a good system or with sufficient resolution. 
The Southern generals held a position like the 
out-line of a fan, extending from east to west, 
and covering the country behind them. By 
means of the railroads intersecting the inte- 
rior they could bring up their forces to any 
point of the circumference ; and so long as it 
was necessary for them to be strong at one 
point only, they could always contrive to be 
stronger at that point than their adversaries. 
The first and most indispensable step, there- 
fore, was to deprive them of this favorable 
condition, by attacking at a variety of points 
at once, so as to retain evei-y Southern army 
in its own position and prevent it from rein- 
forcing another. Hitherto the two main ar- 
mies of the Federals — one in Tennessee and 
the other in Virginia — had been acting, as the 



General expresses it, 'like a balky team.' 
When one was pulling the other was backing, 
and so the able generals of the Confederacy 
could shift or concentrate or relieve their for- 
ces in such a way as either to economize their 
strength or employ it to the greatest advan- 
tage. If Lee was hard pressed, he could be 
reinforced by Beauregard ; if Johnston was ia 
difficulty he could be supported from ilich- 
moiid or Petersburg. Attack on both sides 
at once, and these tactics would be impractica- 
ble. But, besides all this, General Grant took a 
harder and more terrible view of ati'airs. Man 
for man tho Southerners were the best troops, 
partly, perhaps, from natural aptitudes, but 
mainly, no doubt from the great military abil- 
ity of their commanders. On a fair field, and 
in any one battle, the Federals could not pre- 
tend to reckon confidently on winning; but 
there was one thing on wiiich they could reck- 
on, and that thing was on killing a certain 
number of Confederates. Of course they 
must suffer equal or even greater los.ses them- 
selves, but that they could well afford. If 
every battle cost the South a certain propor- 
tion of men, a given number of battles mnst 
destroy the Southern power, even if no battle 
was a decisive victory. So Grant determined 
not only to fight, but to fight on, without 
.stint or stay, come what might. Hard knocks 
and incessant blows constituted his strategy 
and tactics. If he were to fare as McClellan 
and Hooker had fared, he would not do as 
McClellan and Hooker had done. He opened 
the new campaign, resolved to go on fighting 
whether he won or lost, and, as he himself 
says, ' to hammer continuously against the 
armed force of the enemy and his resources 
until, by mere attrition, if in no other way, 
there should be nothing left to him but sub- 
mission.' The literal execution of this policy 
is expressed in every line of the report. 
While recounting the events of the Virginian 
campaign the General represents one engage- 
ment as virtually a failure in these words : — 
' It was the only general attack made from 
the Rapidan to the James which did not 
inflict upon the enemy losses to compensate 
for our own losses. I would not be under- 
stood as saying that all previous attacks re- 
sulted in victories to our arms, or accomplish- 
ed as much as I had hoped /rom them ; but 
they inflicted upon the enemy severe losses, 
which tended in the end to the overthrow of 
the rebellion.' How much these tactics cost 



72 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the North we need not say. It is said that 
General Grant winces to this hour whenever 
the figures, ' 150,000,' as representing his 
losses in Virginia, are held up before his eyes, 
and there is a passage in his report which 
reads very like a deprecation of censure : 
'Whether my views,' says he, 'might have 
been better in conception and execution is for 
the people who mourn the loss of friends fall- 
en, and who have to pay the pecuniary cost, to 
say. All I can say is, that what I have done, 
has been done to the best of ray ability, and 
what I conceived to be the best interests of 
the whole country.' 

" As far as plans can be justified by events, 
that justification certainly belongs to Grant. 
His system was successful where every other 
system had failed. His campaign brought 
the war to an end, whereas every former cam- 
paign had left the contest pretty nearly as it 
stood before. It must be understood, too, 
wherever military science appears more con- 
spicuous than brute force, that merit is Grant's 
also. The scheme of Sherman'. s campaign 
was dictated by Grant, as were others less im- 
portant and less fortunate. The grand prin- 
ciple of the whole system was co-operation. 
Besides the two great armies of the East and 
West which, on this occasion, were to pull 
well together, Grant set half a dozpn other 
armies in motion, to distract, occupy and 
punish the enemy at all points together. Tiie 
orders originally given to Sherman w^ere that 
he should advance steadily and through all 
obstacles to Atlanta, an important railroad 
centre in the north of Georgia, that he should 
occupy that town, and then, by striking some 
towu on the east coast, and holding the line 
of communication, cut the Confederacy ia two 
at that point, as had already been done on the 
Mississippi. On this understanding Sherman 
moved from Chattanooga just as Grant advanc- 
ed upon Richmond, with what results is well 
known. As to Grant himself, with Mead's 
army under his immediate command, he ad- 
mits us into the secrets of his calculations. 
He intended to do his utmost by dint of 
blows to destroy Lee's army north of Rich- 
mond, but he hardly hoped to succeed. All 
he reckoned upon was to weaken his enemy 
by battle after battle, and he tells us distinctly 
that in anticipation of the failure which he 
evidently considered probable, he had resolv- 
ed from the first to transfer his army to the 
Bouth of the James river, and had acquainted 



both Butler and Meade with this resolutioo. 
This was what occurred. Not all the sangui- 
nary fighting in Virginia sufficed against the 
skill of the Confederate couunander and the 
valor of his troops, and Grant ultimately found 
himself south of the James with an inaccessi- 
ble enemy still in his front. As for Butler, 
General Grant says that he got his force ia 
such a position that, for the purpose of any 
co-operaiion against Ricinnond, it was about 
as available ' as if it had been in a bottle 
strongly corked.' In the end, however, — 
that is to say, in the eleventh month of the 
campaign — the new tactics bore their fruits. 
Some of the co-operating armies had failed, 
but others had succeeded beyond expecta- 
tion. Banks as well as Butler liad been im- 
successful, and so had Sigel ; and so had Rose- 
crans ; but Sherman, after a most memorable 
march, found himself able not only to go from 
Atlanta to Savannah, but to sweep north- 
ward wiih his victorious array to the assis- 
tance of Grant himself. At the same time, as 
the final scene drew near, other expeditions 
had proceeded according to Grant's oiders. 
Sheridan had scoured tlie Shenandoah Valley. 
Sloneman was advancing upon Lynchburg, 
and on every side the armies of tiie North 
were closing in upon the Southern capital. 
At last the catastrophe came, and in the 
course of a single month we learned not only 
that Richmond was taken, but that the whole 
war was finished and the Confederacy a thing 
of the past. The result is undoubtedly due 
to the " military arithmetic" of General Grant. 
He is not the first conqueror who has adopt- 
ed the principle, though he was the first to 
apply it to the resorces of a whole people in- 
stead of the divisions of a single army. He is 
entitled, therefore, to the credit which com- 
plete success confers ; and, indeed, terrible 
though the cost was, it may well be question- 
ed, whether an indefinite prolongation of the 
war would not have cost both i>arties still 
more 1 " 

An eminent military writer, after attribut- 
ing to Grant the qualities which Napoleon so 
praised in the Duke of Wellington — firmness 
and prudence — remarks : 

" Of course the critics who prated about General 
Grant being without a plan, and ol Sherman beinf; 
drawn into a trap, knew little of these great cap» 
tains ; not even the facts of their oampaijins during 
the current war. A soldier who )iad studied the strat- 
egy which led to the capture of Donelson and Vicks- 
burg, would have foxmd nothing to perplex him. in 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



73 



Grant's approaches toward Eichmond. Ulysses S. 
Grant is a man of genius ; a soldier of new ideas ; 
one who will be found to have contributed fresh ma- 
terials to the art of war. With him a siege is a cam- 
paign. Instead of driving oif the covering army 
from a fort or city, as the old rules insisted must be 
done, before commencing operations against it, Grant 
manoeuvres to keep the covering army near him, to 
throw it within the lines, to compel it to take part 
in the defence, and to fall when the beleagured for- 
tress falls. This plan has the disadvantage of mak- 
ing a siege appear long, perplexing critics, who can- 
not see that the close of the siege is to be, under this 
new system, the close of the campaign. 

" At Donelson, at Vicksburg, Grant's plan was car- 
ried out ; in each the covering army fell with the for- 
tress, and in each the blow was finaL The fall of 
Fort Donelson and its covering army put an end 
to the war in Kentucky and Western Tennessee ; the 
fall of Vicksburg and its covering army opened the 
Eiver Mississippi, never to be closed again by the 
Southern guns. Each campaign was final ; not only 
sweeping away the army in the field, together with 
stores, guns, clothing and ammunition, but crushing 
in the catastrophe all sparks of rebellious fire. 

" Where Grant had once been, it was impossible to 
raise a second rebel corps. The fighting spirit was 
subdued. And that which had been done by Grant in 
the States of Tennessee and Mississippi, was now 
being done by him on a larger scale and with a 
stronger enemy in Virginia — was being done in pre- 
cisely the same manner, and with precisely the same 
object. Grant had to weaken the Confederate army, 
shut it up within the lines of Richmond and Peters- 
bur^-, and compel it to surrender when the cajiital 
fell. 

" Hence the battles which he fought on his way to 
York Eiver ; hence his refusal to assault the lines on 
his first approach. He was making a campaign, not 
simply conducting a ciege. Davis had boasted that 
the war could be maintained, in Virginia alone, for 
twenty years after Eichmond fell; but, like many 
other critics, he made the mistake of altogether mis- 
understanding Grant. This captain knew his object 
and the means by which he could gain it. Eichmond 
•without Lee would have given him little ; Eichmond 
and Lee falling together would give him everything 
he wanted — victory, union, peace. In spite of mili- 
tary and civil critics, his plans were crowned with a 
magnificent success. The war was finished at a blow, 
and the surrender of Pemberton was justified in the 
surrender of Lee. 

The Lieutenant-General having consummat- 
ed h'S lastand most brilliant campajfrn, and sub- 
stantially ended tlie war — lor tlie other rebel 
fivmies all surrendered within a few weeks — 
q»iei,ly returns to Washington, without entering/ 
or ever having neen the city, which his genius 
Jiad captured, and characteristically begins to 
work at his headquarters at the national cap- 
ital, reducing the army by mustering out of 
the service volunteer troops wiiom the coun- 
try no lonser requires, and in the preparation 
of his official i ep )rt of the operations of the 
armies of the United States from the date of 



his appointment to command the same with 
the rank of Lieutenant-General. 

What a record of glorious victories — of 
bloody battles and sieges— of assaults in the 
" imminent deadly breach" — of relentless pur- 
suits and skillful combinations are containtsd 
in the brief story of the life of the great 
American Captain, who carried the old (lag 
in triumph through eight of the rebellious 
States, and who contributed more than any 
other man, to restore the blessings of peace 
to our long-afflicted and bleeding country. 

It was on the 24lh of May — a bright, beau- 
tiful day — that the famous army, whose drums 
had been heard from the Ohio to the sea, and 
back again to the Potomac, passed in review 
before the President, the Cabinet, theGeneral- 
in-chief of the armies of the Republic, and 
hundreds of thousands of spectators drawn to 
Washington to witness the review of the army 
of the Potomac, and the army of the West — 
the most magnificent spectacle ever witnessed 
on the American Continent. What a glorious 
pageant ! What cheers rent the air wiieii 
Sherman rode along Pennsylvania Avenue at 
the head of those invincible troops, who had 
marched victoriously through eight rebellious 
States ! With what an easy, careless swing the 
gaunt veterans move forward ! How weather- 
beaten and bronzed, and how dingy, as if the 
smoke of numberless battle-fields had dyed 
their garments, and the sacred soil of insur- 
rectionary States had adhered to tlieni ! And 
the flags they carried ! Dear old weather- 
beaten banners, perforated by the bullets of 
a hundred battle-fields — Belmont, Donelson, 
Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, R©- 
saca, Kenesaw, Atlanta, Averysi) rough, and 
Benlonviile, and a few of the aar^es written, 
not in letters, but in bullet holes on the grand 
old historic colois to which, as tliey jjassed, 
" the first soldier of the Union " raised his 
hat with reverence, and his usually calm fea- 
tures glowed with enthusiasm as he bowed to 
his old comrades who had followed him from 
Cairo to Chattanooga, and from the e had 
marched with Sherman through the very cen- 
tre and core of the rebel States, while he held 
Lee in his firm grasp. When in after years, 
our childn-n shall speak of the crowning ijlory 
of their heroes, they will pass the gran'l effi- 
gies of priests, statesmen, authors divines, 
and rich merchants, and will pause and point 
out with pride, the portrait of an officer, or 
simple soldier, as one of Grant's men of the 



u 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



army of the Potomac, or of the Western ar- 
mies. No prouder title will be known in the 
land fifty years hence. 

A few days later General Grant issued the 
following address to all the armies which 
were about to be disbanded : 

Soldiers of the Abmies of the United States : 

By your patriotic devotion to your country in the 
hour of danger and alarm, your niagniticent fighting, 
bravery, and endurance, you have maintained the 
supremacy of the Union and Constitution, over- 
thrown all armed opposition to the enforcement ot 
the laws, and of the proclamation forever abolishing 
slavery— the cause and pretext ot the rebellion— and 
opened the way to the rightful authorities to restore 
order and inaugurate peace on a permanent and en- 
during basis on every foot of American soil. Your 
marches, sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, 
resolution, and brilliancy of results, dim the lustre 
of the world's past military achievements, and will 
be the patriot's precedent in defence ot hberty and 
right in all time to come. In obedience to your 
country's call you left your homes and families, and 
volunteered in its defence. Victory has crowned 
your valor, and secured the purpose of jour patriotic 
hearts ; and with the gratitude of your countrymen, 
and the highest honors a great and free nation can 
accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your 
homes and families, conscious of having discharged 
the highest duty of American citizens. To achieve 
these glorious triumphs, and secure to yourselves, 
your fellow-countrymen, and posterity, the bless- 
ings of free institutions, tens of thousands of your 
gallant comrades have fallen, and sealed the priceless 
legacy with their lives. The graves of these, a g»-ate- 
ful nation bedews with tears, honors their memories, 
and will ever cherish and support their stricken fam- 
ilies. 



The armies of the Republic were gradually 
broken up and disbanded, and hundreds of 
thousands went quietly homewards, as men 
turn to their accustomed work. " This last 
triumph of the American nation," it has been 
said, " is its greatest, for it is a triumph in 
which rulers can ask no credit. It is a tri- 
umph in which rulers can claim no share and 
for which generals can ask no credit. It is a 
triumph of the citizens themselves, who went 
to the rescue of their country when its unity 
appealed in danger, and now betake them- 
selves to their fields and homesteads when 
the danger is past." 

In the following letter General Grant pre- 
sents the horse that he rode through his Wes- 
tern campaigns to a sanitary fair held at Chi- 
cago, 111 nois, for the benefit of sick and dis- 
al)led soldiers : 

Headqtjabters, Armttes of the U. S., ) 
■Washington, D. C, May 31, 1865. } 

Mrs. Ellen E. Sherman— Dear Madam :— As a 
slight testimonial of the interest I feel in the great 



Northwestern Fair, now being held in Chicago, for 
the benefit of sick and disabled soldiers, who have en- 
dured 80 much for the maintenance of our govern- 
ment, permit me, through your agency, to present 
to this loyal and charitable enterprise the horse 
" Jack," well known in the Western armies. I left 
Illinois on him in July, 1861, when commanding the 
21st regiment of Toluntcor infantry of that State. 
I rode the horso more than all others put together, 
from the time ot leaving Springfield, on the 3d of 
July, 18G1, until called East, in March, 186t. 

On my promotion to the command of the armies 
of the United States, I left " Jack " in the West, lat- 
terly with J. B. Jones, United States Marshal for 
the Northern District of Illinois, residing in Chicago. 
Mr. Jones has been directed to deliver the horse to 
your order. If I was not deceivetl in the purchase 
of " Jack," he is now eleven j-ears old. He is a very 
fine saddle horse, and very gentle in harness, but re- 
quires whip and spur. Hoping the fair will realize 
the full expectations of loyal people, and do credit to 
the great and growing Northwest, where it is being 
held, I remain, very respectfully your obedient ser- 
vant, U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-GeueraL 

We may here mention, en passant, that the 
General-in-chief has always been extremely 
fond of fine horses, and we remember with what 
pleasure he one day exhibited at City Point, 
to ex-Governor Clitfor(l,of Massachusetts, and 
a few other friends, his raasinificent horses,' 
— two noble bays and a beaut fal black, his es- 
pecial favorite. The General is also interested 
in trotting horses, and owns and drives sev- 
eral very fast animals, albeit he has not yet 
equalled the time of Dexter, and others of his 
friend Bonner's world-renowned trotters. At 
New Orleans, in September, 1863, he drove out 
on the shell road with Banks, and greatly 
astonished the Crescent City Creoles, as well 
as his companion, the commanding General 
of the Department of the Gulf, by the quick 
lime his horses made oa that justly famous 
drive. 

Various sums of money having been sent to 
General Grant, from enthusiastic individuals 
in ditTerent sections of th» country, to be given 
as a reward to the fli-st person in the mi itary 
service of the United States who should plant 
the stars and strips over the city of Richmond, 
he made the disposition of the funds set forth 
in the following letter : 



Hfadqtjarters, Armies of the United ) 
States, Washington, July 22, 1865. ( 
To Sergeant David W. Young, 139th Pennsylva- 
nia Infantry Volunteers : 
The sum of four hundred and sixty dollars was 
sent to me by patriotic citizens, to be presented as a 
reward for gallantry to the soldier who should first 
raise our flag over Richmond. As Richmond was 
not taken by assault, I have concluded that the do- 
ners' wishes will be best carried out by dividing th« 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OP GENERAL GRANT. 



sum between the three soldiers most conspicuous for 
gallantry in the final and succesatul assault on 
Petersburg. You have been selected by Major-Gen- 
eral H. G. Wright, commanding the Gth army corps, 
as entitled to this honor on behalf of that command ; 
and I herewith present to you one hundred and fifty- 
three dollars and thirty-three cents, as one-lhird of 
the original sum. It affords me gieat satistaction to 
receive from your commanding general such unqual- 
ified testimony of your gallantry and heroism in bat- 
tle, and to be the medium for transmitting to you 
this recognition of the worth of your services in de- 
fence of our common country. 

U. S. Gkant, Lieutenant-General. 

The followinj; named soldiers received sim- 
ilar letters, and tlie same amount of money : 
Sergeant Thomas McGraw, company B, 23d 
Indiana Vol ur) leers, selected by MajorGen- 



to the Canada.<?, to the South, and to the West. 
At New York tens of Ihoiisands crowded to 
the City Hall,, to .see and shake hands with the 
renowned soldier, and wiien he accompanied 
llie President in his Western luiir to take i»art 
in the inauguration of the monument l4> Doug- 
las at Chicago, the tiiousands who were &H- 
sembled at every railway station to welcome 
the distinguished party, were always loudest 
in their cheers for Grant. At the Sanitary 
Fair, held in the "Garden City" of Illinois, 
ihe e.\pectation of seeing him, had densely 
filled the immense building, and when liic wild 
hurrahs which greeted Grant as he entered, 
leaning on the arm of General Hooker, had 
eral John Gibbon for the 24th army Corp.. ; «"l»sided, he stepped forward and said : "La- 
Corporal Jacob R. Tucker, com^any G, 4th '^'^' ^'"^ gentlemen, as I never make a speech 



Maryland volunteers, selected by Major-Gen- 
eral Charles Griffin for the 5th army corps. 

With the following anecdote, showing how 
the illustrious soldier obeys orders, we will 
conclude this chapter: He was walking the 
dock at City Point, just before the fall of 
Richmond, absorbed in thought, and the in- 
evitable cigar in his mouth, when a negro 
guard, belonging to one of the colored reg- 
iments, touched his arm, saying, " No 
smoking on the dock, sir." " Are these your 
orders'?" asked the General, looking up. 
" Yes sir," re[)lied the soldier, courteously, 
but decidedly. "Very good orders," said 
Grant, as, walking away, he threw his cigar 
into the James river. 



CHAPTER X. 

PEACE. 

General Grant visits Galena — At his early home in 
Ohio — Goes to West Point — Interview with General 
Scott — A common error — Grant described — His 
appearance — His conversation — His magnanimity 
— Anecdote — His family — Record on a presentation 
sword — Gifts of Houses, &c. — Is commissioned Gen- 
eral — President Lincoln's story — Appointed Secre- 
tary of War, ad interim — Grant a Statesman as well 
as a Soldier — Compared with Wellington — The 
People's choice for President — Nominated by tlie 
* Chicago Convention — Grant's election as next 
President of the United States. 

" Tour marches sieges and battles, in distance, du- 
ration, resolution and brilliancy of results, dim the 
lustre of the world's past military achievements." 
Gkant's Address to his Soldiers. 

DtJRiNO the years 1865 and 1866, General 



myself, I will ask Governor Yates to return 
the thanks I should fail to express." The el- 
oquent Illinoisian, now a member of the Uni- 
ted States Senate, then delivered an addresa 
closing with these words : '• 1 am here to-day 
to say that the proudest reflection that thrills 
the heart of this brave soldier anil general is, 
that we have gloriou.sly triumphed. That oar 
nation is preserved, that our governmenl ha.1 
been maintained, and that we have our free 
institutions for us and our posterity forever." 
Among the ovations which he everywhere 
received, perhaps there was none more grate- 
ful to him than that extended by the citizens 
of his old Illinois home. There were arches 
decorated with the long scroll of his victories, 
and over the street where he lived arid the 
sidewalk which he had calumniated, was the 
motto: "General, the sidewalk is built." 
The fond thought which had promj)ted such 
an expression of his ambition — to be .Mayor 
of Galena and repair the sidewalk — thus treas- 
ured up by his old friends and fellow citizens, 
we may be sure touched him most deeply. In 
the course of his journey in the West, General 
Grant stopped for a day at Georgetown. Brown 
county, Ohio, where he spent his boyhood. 
The people came from all quarters to see the 
illustrious soldier, and he was consPrained to 
make the following si>eech — the longest with 
the exception of his Washington speeeli of 
May 22d, 1868, that he was ever known to de- 
liver: "Ladies and gentlemen of Brown 
county : You are all aware that I am not in 
the habit of making si>eeclies. I am glad 
that I never learned to make speeche.s when 
I was young, and now that I nm old I have 



<3rant made tours of inspection and pleasure I no desire to begin. I had rather start ont in 



76 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



anything else than in making a speech. And 
now, ladies and gentlemen, I can only say to 
you that it affords me very much pleasure to 
get back to Brown county, where my boy- 
hood was spent." 

A Union meeting was held in the afternoon 
on the Fair Grounds, at which the General's 
father made tlie following speech : 

" It gives me a great deal of pleasure to 
look so many of my old friends in ihe face 
again, and have the j)rivilege of saying fare- 
well, for I never expected to see you again. 
We have just i)assed through a severe con- 
flict — a gigantic rebellion, a cruel, bloody, 
savage and wicked civil war — a war that is a 
disgrace to civilization. But how did you get 
out? Wiien tlie country was assailed by reb- 
els, its flag fired upon, your friends set forth ; 
they sacrificed the comforts of domestic life, 
the happiness of their firesides ; they put on 
the army blue, took the death-dealing musket, 
and slung the knapsack and blanket, and 
went forth determined to crush the rebels and 
put down the rebellion. They did put them 
down— crushed the rebellion, and subdued 
Uie traitors to the Union, and now they are 
•on their marrow-bones, seeking pardon, and 
your friends have returned home to your 
hearths aud hearts. 

" Now there is a great duty resting upon 
you. The fight is transferred to the ballot. 
It is your duty now to vote down this misera- 
ble copperhead faction. It is said we have 
conquered a peace. This is true ; it is not a 
petty, patched-up, copperhead, democratic 
peace ; it is one obtained by the sword, and 
the youngest cliild is not living who will see 
the sword again raised against the govern- 
ment. It is your duty, as patriotic citizens of 
Blown county, not to allow this old locofoco, 
copperhead, Lecompton faction to be galvan- 
ized into life, on the pretence that it is the 
only party that can save the country. I don't 
know how that could be, unless on the princi- 
ple that the hair of the dog is good for the 
bite." 

"Uncle Jesse," as the General's father is 
familiarly called, came of a hardy stock, and 
the out-of-door active life he led from boy 
hood upward, preserved and conserved his 
physical strength, and now, in his seventj'- 
fourth year, he can endure as much fatigue as 
most men a score of years his junior. His 
eyesight is good, his memory wonderfully re- 
tentive, and his sound, practical mind as cleai 



as when he set up in business in Georgetown 
in 1823. In those days only the sons of 
wealthy men received more than a very lim- 
ited education. Jesse R. Grant was not one 
of that fortunate class. His father removed 
from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 
the last decade of the eighteenth century, to 
the Connecticut Westein Reserve, and the 
only schooling Jesse received was while liv- 
ing in the family of Judge Tod (father of 
David Tod, late Governor), in Youngstown 
(now in Mahoning county), " and that," said 
the old man, " as I had to chop wood for two 
fires, and do otiier chores, was very little." 
It was while living on the Re.^^erve that the 
news came of the death of General Washing- 
ton. Jess^ then five years of age, observing 
his mother weeping, asked her what was the 
matter. "General Washington is dead! " she 
replied. " Was he any relation of yours 1 " 
inquired the wondering child. " And that," 
said the veteran, " was the fiist I ki.ew of the 
Father of his Country." 

Another visit that afforded Grant undisguised 
pleasure was one that he made to his alma 
mater in June, 1865. Here occuried ihatme- 
moriable interview between Winfield Scott 
and the Generalissimo of the army, at which 
transpired the beautiful incident, the gift of 
a copy of Scott's Memoirs " from the oldest 
to the greatest general." Our venerable and 
honored friend was not perhaps aware how 
closely he was treading in the path of Frederick 
the Great who sent Washington a sword with 
the inscripfion : — " From the oldest general 
in the world to the greatest." Like the Prus- 
sian king, he committed a lapsus pennoe by 
writing himself the oldest general in the world. 

There were several older general ofBcers 
living when both presentations were made. 
Marshal Combermere whose designation points 
to the highest rank in the British army, hav- 
ing been born in 1769, and who was conse- 
quently seventeen years the senior of Scott, 
was then living. Just a year later, and the 
remains of the old hero of nearly four score, 
who had been a prominent actor in nearly all 
that is glorious In the military annals of our 
country from the commencement of the wai 
oi 1812, to the beginning O) the late rebel- 
lion, were laid in the grave at West Point in 
the presence of Grant and Farragut, and a 
numerous assemblage of the most illustrious 
men of our time. 

A common error of mankind is to deter- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



mine a man's greatness by his pliysical aspect ; 
marvellous attributes of a physical cliaracter 
impress the mind as necessary belongings of 
great captains. Nevertheless, the militaiy 
heroes of the past, as well as the present, 
have made but sorry figures physiologically. 
Frederick the Great was so small and crooked 
that he might, like Pope, have been compared 
to an hilerrogation point; Suwarrow, the dis- 
tinguished Russian General, stood five feet one 
in his boots; Nelson's physical inferiority was 
so striking, that when he passed over the quay 
at Yarmouth, to take possession of the ship-of- 
the-line to which he had been appointed, the 
people exclaimed: " Why make that little fel- 
low a captain 1 " Wellington was so small and 
slight thathe mightalmosthavebeenputwhere 
George the Fourth once threatened to place 
Tom Moore — in a wine cooler; and Napoleon 
was but a stout, little fat man. Farragut, the 
greatest naval hero of this century, is not in 
figure unlike the "Little Corporal;" and our 
dashing Sheridan you may easdy look down 
upon without climbing a tree. May not the 
sobriquet of " Little Phil " have furred on 
the diminutive cavalry leader to perform some 
of the most gallant deeds of the war, and 
called forth from a New-Orleans Creole, whom 
he captured with a number of other Louisi- 
anians, in one of the battles before Richmond, 
the exclamation : "II a le diable au corps!" 
Csesar, whose nod " did awe the world," and 
our majestic Washington, were splendid excep- 
tions to the general rule. The prestige of 
physical excellence must vanish when we 
speak of Grant. He is below the medium 
height, with a slight stoop, careless in his 
dress, and the last man who would be likely 
to be selected from a group of general officers 
as being the greatest captain the country has 
produced. The casual observer would see 
nothing remarkable in his features, but the 
physiognomist would discover reticent power 
in his clear, grey eye, and the decision and in- 
tellectual force of the self-relying man in his 
cleanly-cut and sharply-curved mouth, around 
which a closely-trimmed and tawny beard 
deepens to the firm chin and square, ample 
jaws, of those who in battle never surrender. 
His nose is neither Caesarian nor Wellington- 
ian, and his tout ensemble unimpressive, while 
his walk is the unpretending motion of a 
thinking man. Every dav are we more and 
more impressed with the truth of Gray's fam- 
Uiar lines in his exquisite Elegy : "Greatness, 



like truth, often lurks in the by-ways." No 
man is a hero to his valet de chamhrt. One of 
Grant's Galena neighbors said to us that " he 
was a dull, plodding man ; " another remarked 
that he possessed only "sccond-iate business 
capacity ;" and that noble old chioflain, Lieu- 
tenant-General Scott, who faitiifully served 
his country for more than half a century, told 
the writer that he could only " remember 
Grant in the Mexican war as a young lieuten- 
ant of undoubted courage, but giving no 
promise whatever of anything beyond ordina- 
ry abilities." When the Union General met 
the Secretary of War, in Louisville, Oct. 17, 
1863, and received from his hands an order 
placing him in command of the departments 
of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennos.see, a 
great crowd assembled at the Gait House to 
see the hero of Vicksburg. Tall and swarthy 
Kentuckians, old soldiers of the Union, ladies 
and children, stood in every place which af- 
forded a glimpse of the plain, modest soldier. 
Among the throng was a stalwart Kentuckian, 
who stared at him a few moments and then 
exclaimed: " Well, that's General Grant, is it! 
I thought he was a large man. Ho would be 
thouglit a small chance of a fighter if ho lived 
in Kentucky." So thought the Countess of 
Auvergnein the days of Henry VI., when she 
first gazed upon the victorious Talbot. 

Ostentation and display are strangers to his 
nature ; he is approachable by all ; and no 
array of Pretorian guards, no triple circle of 
e])anletted subordinates hedge him in and tell 
you to " stand back," but an open, undi.sguis- 
ed Western welcome greets you at the head- 
quarters of the general He is to-<lay as sira- 
|)le and unspoiled by his lofty position, as in 
the days of adversity, when he had recourse 
to collecting for business houses in St. Louis, 
and candor compels us to admit that he made 
but a poor hand at it, exhibiting marvellously 
little skill in the vocation of " dunning." Dif- 
fidence and excessive modesty are not the 
necessary attributes of a successful collector 
of claims. His table during the war was more 
simple and served with le.ss " style" than tlie 
table of his brigade commanders. He is the 
most undramatic of men. Scott was si>ortive- 
ly called by his young army fiifiids, as he 
was derisively nicknamed' by his enemies, 
" Fuss and Feathers." Grant ha.s less fuss 
and fewer feathers about him, than any other 
public man of his day. Our readers well re- 
member the recorded incident of his first ap- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



pearance on the floor of the United States 
Senate, when he seemed as nuich abashed as a 
school-girl before an examining committee ; 
and vvlien he left, a Senator called attention to 
the fact that the Lieutenant-General of the 
armies of the United States wore fewer airs 
than a second lieutenant. We well remember 
dining one sunny May day at General Blair's 
headquarters, during the siege. Siierraan and 
McPherson, with olher general officers were 
present, and all unmindful of the pleasantries 
of the merry party. Grant sat on the ground 
at the foot of a tree, not many yards distant, 
eating liis* dinner of cold chicken, which he 
drew from liis pocket, and so absorbed in 
thought that he neither heard or heeded the 
hearty laugh, which now and then rang out, 
nor the falling twigs knocked from a tree over- 
bead by a chance cannon-ball, sent with the 
compliments of our rebel friends in the " West- 
ern Gibraltar." He is a calm, silent man, an 
inarticulate hero, who, as his soldiers used to 
say, " keeps up a devil of a thinking." His 
conversation is genicil and modest — of few 
words, but those words are always to the 
purpose. " When he has nothing to say," re- 
marks a writer, " he says nothing." In jjrivate 
he fills no interetices of conversation by re- 
marks ni)on the weather, or inquiries after the 
babies of his visitor. In public he can make 
no speeches simply of form or compliment ; 
and sine ^ the world cared to hear his oi)inions 
on affairs, his official position has never allow- 
ed him to speak freely. But in public or 
private, when he has anything to utter by 
tongue or pen, he says it with extreme ra- 
pidity and clearness, in terse, marrowy, idio- 
matic English. Even then he clothes his 
thoughts in no flowers of rhetoric, but pre- 
sents them in the plainest, humblest words. 
Napoleons memorable sayings are all of this 
order: "From these summits forty centuies 
look down upon you." " We will carry our vic- 
torious eagles beyond the pillar.s of Hercules." 
Grants are the exact antipodes: " I have no 
terms but unconditional surrender." " I pro- 
pose to move immediately upon your works." 
"I shall fight it out on this line if it takes all 
summer." " I found the army like a balky 
horse.'' " General. Butler was bottled up." Said 
the dramatic Corsiban after Auslerlitz : " Sold- 
iers, I am satisfied with you. You have decora- 
ted your eagles with immortal glory." Said the 
matter-of-fact American to his shouting men, 
after Port Gibson : " Soldiers, I thank you. 



That is all I can say. You have done a good 
day's work to-day, but you must do a better 
one to-morrow." No shining rhetoric, no po- 
etic gushes ; only the simple unadorned fact. 

He is utterly genuine and guileless. He still 
preserves in his high estate the sweetne;ss and 
simplicity of his country boyhood. Altogether 
free from cant, his lips, obejing the teachings 
of his mother, have uttered no oath, been 
soiled by no coarseness. He is a miracle of 
serenity and self-poise. During the terrors of 
Belmont, when an aid, with palli<l cheek, 
cried, '"Why, General, we are surrounded!" 
there was no perceptible change in his pleasant 
face or calm voice, as he answered : " Then 
we will cut our way out." Three years later, 
as he read Lee's dispatch, pro])osing the sur- 
render of the army of Northern Virginia, lie 
was equally unmoved ; no elation shone in his 
face, or sounded in the ordinary tone in which 
he asked, " Well, Rawlins, how do you think 
that will do ] " " Tried by both extremes of 
fortune, and never disturbed by either,'' he re- 
mains as simple and unaffected to-day as in 
his years of poverty and obscurity. 

Grant, like his excellent mother, rarely 
laughs, and still more rarely attempts a joke, 
uidess in the society of those with whom 
he is extremely intimate. After a hard day's 
successful fighting, he indulged on one occa- 
sion, in an allusion to his jjossessing some 
knowledge of " the art of tanning," and it was 
in reference to his connection with this busi- 
ness, that he made his noted rejjly to the pol- 
iticians, who visited him at Vick.sburg for the 
sole purpose of getting him into conversation 
about politics. While one of them was in the 
midst of the most flowery rhetoric, General 
Grant interrupted him with: 

" There is no use of talking politics to me. 
I know nothing about tiiat subject, and, fur- 
thermore, I don't know of any person among 
my acquaintances who does. But," continued 
he, " there is one subject with which I am 
perfectly acquainted ; talk of that, and I am 
your man." 

" What is that. General 1 " asked the poli- 
ticians, in surprise. 

" Tanning leather,' replied General Grant. 

Another biographer thus describes the per- 
sonal and prepossessing character of the il- 
lustrious soldier : " The truth is," he re- 
marks, " that Grant's extreme simjdicity of 
behavior and directness of expression impos- 
ed on various officers, both above and below 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



79 



him. They thought hiiu a good, plain man, 
who had blundered into one or two suc- 
cesses, and who, therefore, could not be im- 
mediately removed ; but they deemed it un- 
necessary to reward his judgment, or to count 
upon his ability. His superiors made their 
plans invariably without consulting him, and 
his subordinates sometimes sought to carry 
out their own campaigns, in opposition or in- 
difference to his orders, not doubting that, 
with their superior inielligence, they could 
conceive and execute trium{)hs which would 
excuse or even vindicate their course. It is 
impossible to understand the early history of 
the war, without taking it into account, that 
neither the government nor its important com- 
manders gave Grant credit for intellectual 
ability or military genius. 

" His other qualities were also rated low. 
Because he was patient, some thought it im- 
possible to provoke him ; and because of his 
calmness, it was supposed that he was stolid. 
In battle or in campaign, he did not seem to 
care or consider so much what the enemy was 
doing, as what he hinisell meant to do; and 
this trait, to enthusiastic and even brilliant 
soldiers, api)eared inexplicable. A great com- 
mander, it was imagined, should be nervous, 
excitable, inspiring his men and captivating 
his officers ; calling private soldiers by their 
names, making eloquent addresses in the 
field, and waving his drawn sword in battle. 
Great commanders had done all these thii.gs, 
and won ; and many men, who could do all 
these things, fancied themse ves therefore 
great commanders. Others imagined wisdom 
to consist in science alone ; they sought suc- 
cess in learned and elaborate plans, requiring 
months to develop, when the enemy was im- 
mediately before them ; they manceuvered 
■when it was the time to fight; they entrenched 
when they should have attacked, and studied 
their books when the field should have been 
their only problem. 

" Grant was like none of these. If he pos- 
sessed acquirements, he appeared unconscious 
of them ; he made no allusion to the schools, 
and never hesitated to transgress their rules, 
when the occasion seemed to him to demand 
it. So, he neither won men's hearts by blan- 
dishments, nor affected their imaginations by 
brilliancy of behavior ; nor did he seem pro- 
found to those who are impressed only by a 
display of learning. All these things should 



be appreciated by those who seek to under- 
stand his character or career," 

A beautiful characteristic of Q:aiit is his 
magnanimity, numerous inslances o|" which 
»ve have alrea<ly cited in these pa^'es. An- 
other and a more recent illusiraiiun <>f this 
trait is recorded by a friend who visiu-d 
Washington during the past winter. Tlie 
writer says: "We had the pleasure of hear- 
ing a remark made by General Grant, which 
we think should be gi**a to Uie country. 
General Grant, on the occasion wo refer to, 
had introduced to the three jiersons who were 
l)resent, the subject of General Sheridan'a 
late disi)atch in relation to the Altorney- 
General's opinion ; and, with the view of jus- 
tify. ng its style, explained that it was in liie 
nature of a personal dispatch to him (not in- 
tended as an official resj>onse to that opinion), 
and consequently not meant for publication. 
' Nevertheless,' said the General, ' 1 read a 
oopy of it in the newspapeis before I received 
the original, and I am curious to learn how 
such a result could have come about.' The 
General then went on to say ihat Sheriilan's 
dispatch was almost in the nature of a con- 
fidential communication, and that it w.is char- 
acterized by an easy frankness, whicli was a 
leading feature of Sheridan's character. He 
was, consequently, sorry to see that the pa- 
pers were making such a noise about it ; but 
attributed this fierceness of the attack in 
Louisiana, to the fact that Sheridan was not 
ill with any of the ' rings ' down there, and 
that they consequently hated iiim lieariily, 
and therefore fell upon him altogether. Warm- 
ing with his subject, General Grant further re- 
marked that ' the public did not thoroughly 
understand Sheridan. He had popularity 
enough, it was true ; in fact, all that a man 
could desire, but not appreciation. He was a 
much broader man than was generally sup- 
posed. He was usually regaitled merely as a 
brave, olT-hand, downright tighter, wiih not 
much calculation; but he was in reality a 
man of fine judgment, and fully cai>al)le of 
handling under any circumstances, all ihe ar- 
mies the United States ever had together ! ' 
This was said with great animation, and, after 
a moment's pause, was repeateil with an in- 
creased emphasis. The surprising generosity 
of such a declaration as this, from a man who 
it would naturally be supj>osed, woulil crave 
such commandiDg glory solely to himself, 



80 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



made a deep impression on those of us who 
heard it, and the childlike earnestness and 
simplicity with which Ihe words were uttered, 
carried the conviction that they came spon- 
taneously from a big heart and a great na- 
ture. After this evidence of magnanimity 
and self-negation on the part of General 
Grant, the most jealous patriot need have no 
fears of the integrity and faithfulness with 
which he will perform his duties, in whatever 
station he may be called upon to fill. Such 
men as he do not betray." 

One of the strongest adherents of Chief 
Justice Chase for the Presidency of the United 
States, and consequently opi)osed to General 
Grant's elevation to that high position, bears 
the following unwilling testimony to his saga- 
city and eminei;t fitness for that office : 

"General Grant we esteem by no means a 
great man, nor even a very great general. 
Yet he has, in every position he has filled, 
evinced a modest good sense, a practical, un- 
ostentatious sagacity, which have justly won 
for him a large measure of public confidence. 
He is not by training a statesman : yet his ne- 
gotiations with General Lee, and the terms of 
capitulation conceded by him at Appomattox 
evince a wisdom and breadth of view which 
few among our statesmen could have equalled, 
and none of them has surpassed. We do pro- 
foundly honor and esteem him that he has 
never uttered one syllable that savored of ex- 
ultation over the defeated rebels, or called 
down vengeance on their heads. The blood- 
and-thunder policy of execution and confisca- 
tion, which we intensely loathe, has had no 
more effective opponent than this taciturn, re- 
ticent first soldier of the Union.'' 

Alison, in his Life of the Duke of Marlbor- 
ough, says : " As much as grandeur of concep- 
tion distinguislies Homer; tenderness of feeling 
Virgil, and sublimity of thought Milton, does 
impetuous daring characterize Eugene, con- 
summate generalship Marlborough, indomita- 
ble firmness Frederick, lofty genius Napoleon, 
and unerring wisdom Wellington." Were the 
eminent European historian now living he 
might add another to his list of the five great 
captains of nioiiern times, from our side of the 
Atlantic — a general who combines the charac- 
teristic of the Pru.-^sian king, and the English 
field-marshal. But when we consider the 
vastness of the fields on which our illustrious 
soldier moved his armies, the enormous 
amount of material employed, and the loss of 



life incurred, we are led irresistibly to ll.e 
conclusion that even the most celebrated of 
Frederick's and Wellington's campaigns were 
comparatively but forays and skirmishes. 
Grant's tactics were often as grand as those 
of the first Napoleon, and his battles as fierce 
and decisive. Like Prince Eugene in. the Tj'- 
rol, he could make his way through the most 
difficult and well defended pas.ses of the Ten- 
nessee, and like him, drive his foe before him. 
Like Marlborough in pitched battles. Grant 
has been equally successful on as hotly con- 
tested fields as Blenheim, or Ramillies ; and 
like Wellington in his last triumphant march 
to Paris, after more deadly combats and great- 
er resistance, he closed the war by the cap- 
ture of the enemy's capital, and by the cap- 
ture of the chief who had ihence directed and 
continued the struggle. No great captain of 
modern times has made greater captures of 
prisoners and war materiel than the American 
General, whose fame is no less splendid than 
his patriotism, and who is confessedly the 
foremost man of his time in this country. 
Perhaps the crowning glory of Grant's charac- 
ter, is the absence of that ' mountain devil," 
Sclfsh Ambitton. In short, we think that the 
words spoken by Anthony of his murdered 
friend may with great propriety and fitness, 
be applied to General Grant : 

" His life was gentle, and the elements 
So mixed in him that nature stands up ^ 

And says to all the world, This was a man." 

The gallant General McPherson, who fell 
mortally wounded near Atlanta, Georgia, was 
for a time a member of Grant's military fam- 
ily, and served through the memoriable Vicks- 
burg campaigns as commander of the seven- 
teenth army corps, has left the following re- 
cord, written but a short time before his un- 
timely death, of his opinions of Grant and 
Sherman : " General U. S. Grant I regard as 
one of the most remarkable men of our coun- 
try. Without asi)iring to be a genius, or pos- 
sessing those characteristics which impress 
one forcibly at first sight, his sterling good 
sense, calm judgment, and persistency of 
purpose, more than comj^ensate for thosedash- 
ing, brilliant qualities which are apt to capti- 
vate at a first glance. To know and apire- 
ciate General Grant fully, one ought to be a 
member of his military family. Though pos- 
sessing a remarkable reticence as far as mil- 
itary operations are concerned, he is frank 
and affable, converses well, and has a. pecu- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



liarly retentive menory. When not oppress- 
ed with the cares of his position, he is very 
fond of talliing, telling anecdotes, etc. His 
purity of character is uninipeacliable, and his 
patriotism of the most exalted kind. He is 
generous to a fault, humane and true, and a 
steadfast friend to tliose whom he deems 
worthy of his confidence, he can always be 
relied upon in case of emergency. General 
W. T. Sherman is what might be called a 
brilliant man, possessing a broad and com- 
prehensive intellect. A rapid thinker and a 
ready writer, fertile in his resources and un- 
tiring in his exertions, he possesses those 
characteristics which forciblj' impress you at 
first sight. He has mingled largely with the 
world, and has tried various professions ; 
has read and reflected much, and, having a 
remarkably retentive memory, is well inform- 
ed on most subjects which come williin ihe 
scope of human thought. He is of much more 
excitable temperament than General Grant, sider the progress thai has been made since 
and more apt to be swaj-ed by imi)ulses, | 1640 in civilization, and es|iecially in general 
though his judgment is not so cool and reii- education, there can be no doubt ihat our 
able. lu other words, though a more bril- I soldiers are su[)erior in intelligence and cliar- 
liant man, he does not possess that sterling I acLer even to the fine body of men tiial were 
good common sense which pre-eminently disliii- led to invariable victory by Oliver Cromwell, 
guishes General Grant. He is, however, a Braver ilian the ' Ironsides ' it were |)erhaps 
most brave and generous man, thoroughly in impossible for soldiers to be, but impartial 
earnest, and ready to sacrifice everything lor history will pronounce those n4>t less brave 
the good of his country. He is a true friend, who bent their heads and went forward 
and thoroughly unselfish ; and there are no ; thiough the withering fires of tlie Wilderness, 
better men — or few, at least — than General j and dashed themselves so many times a"aiust 



81 

test of consummate ability, the absoli-te com- 
pleteness of results, and he fully vindicates 
his claims to stand next alter NajHjleon and 
Wellington, among the great soldi.-ra uf this 
century, if not on a level with the latter." 
Another writer pays the following well-mer- 
ited tribute to Grant and his heroes: 

"For the right determination of this great 
debate the heart of the nation i.H moved with 
inex|>ressihle gratitude to the brave and de- 
voted soldiers of our patriot anny.,, Among 
so many thousands there are doubtless, con- 
siderable numbers of scoundrels; but, on the 
whole, there has never before been marshalled 
in the ranks of war a body of men so high ia 
all mental and moral attiibutes as those who 
are now engaged in the glorious work of 
crushing to earth the last remnants of this 
most wicked rebellion. The army that came 
nearest to ours was, doubtless, that of the 
Roundheads, of England, but, when we con- 



Sherman." 

To McPherson's testimony regarding Grant's 
single-hearted patriotism and purity of char- 
acter, we would add a few words descriptive 



the impregnable defences of Spotisylvania. 

" With tills gratitude to the soldiers comes 
the slow but inevitable recognition of the 
greatness of their conmiander. General Grant 



of another trait, which fell from the lips of may not have an intellect superior in its pow- 
President Lincoln. He said : " The great er of comprehending problems, but, through 
thing about Grant, I take it, is his perfect all future generations, bis memory will occupy 
coolness and persistency of purpose. I judge ' the very highest position among those emi- 
he is not easily excited — which is a great nent who have been great in action. The 
element in an officer, and he has ihe pr it of a mind that he has is all wisdom; it is a guide 
bull-dog ! Once let him get his teeth ;«, and ' to conduct; it throws il.s light upon the un- 



nothing can shake him off." 



troiMeii way. His judgment is heahliy and 



A very able military writer says : " Apply sound, and is not disturbed by ci>ll.neral and 
to General Grant what test you will, measure . irrelevant considerations. ' He ha-s one of 
him by the masnitude of the obstacles he has those rare intellects that, across the maze of 
surmounted, by the value of the position he | immaterial facts, goes straight to the true 
has oained, bv the fame of his antagonists point.' 

over whom he triumphed, by the achievements • " But the judgment of General Grant would 
of his most illustrious co-workers, by the have done nothing toward accompli.shing his 
severeness with which he directs his indomita- ; great achievements without those strong qual- 
ble energy to the vital point which is the key ities which have carried his decisions into 
to a vast field of operations, by that supreme effect. His power of dispatching business 



82 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



brought all departments of bis great army 
into tlie liigliest perfeclioii of organization and 
discipline. He lias, too, in an eminent degree, 
that highest courage which has been rare in- 
deed among the commanders of armies — the 
moral courage that dares to take the respon- 
sibility of battle. But the strongest element 
in his character is his inflexible tenacity of 
purpose. It is not the patience that waits in 
idleness, but the active perseverance that 
works and waits — the instinctive determina- 
tion that IS stimulated to more dogged obsti- 
nacy by the encounter of unforeseen obstacles, 
and that never thinks of looking back. This 
is, indeed, the most powerful quality in hu- 
man nature, and, in a contest, it decides the 
victory. Said Wellington at Waterloo — ' Three 
times 1 have saved tliis day by perseverance.' 
The trium[)lis of Marlborough were due to 
the same spirit, and the highest appreciation 
of the noble character of Milton has declared 
its crowning grace to have been his sublime 
and majestic j)atience." 

But to heap further eulogies upon Grant is 
unnecessary, for his career is his best eulogy. 
It is a " solid fabric, and will support the 
laurels that adorn it." 

As whatever appertains to the illustrious 
soldier is of universal interest, we must pause 
for a moment, and devote a paragraph to his 
family. His eldest son, Frederick, a youth of 
eighteen, is now a cadet at West Point, where 
Admiral Farragut's son is also being educated, 
and is the hold little fellow who accompanied 
his father throughout the Vicksburg campaign. 
Another son, some fifteen years of age, is 
named Ulysses, and his only daughter, called 
Nellie, is a sunny-dispositioned and merry 
young lady, whom everybody loves ; while the 
youngest son, known as Jesse, and we ])re- 
sume named after his worthy grandfather, is 
a bright lad who sometimes appears dressed 
in Highland costume, the garb of his Gaelic 
ancestors. The family therefore consist of 
the General and Mrs. Grant, three sons, and 
their only daughter, Miss Nellie. 

A copy of the record on a sword presented 
to Grant by the citizens of Jo Daviess county, 
Illinois, will give a "bird's-eye" view of the 
military career of the distinguished soldier, 
who is said to have been mo- e often amid the 
" sheeted fire and flame " of the battle-field 
than any officer of our army, except the old 
veteran who vied with Cortez in victoriously 
leading our troops to the City of Mexico : 



Palo Alto, May 8th, 1846 ; Resaca de la Pal- 
ma, May 9th. 1846; Monteiey, September 
19th, 20lh, 21st, 1846; Vera Cruz, April 18th, 
1847 ; Moliuo del Rey, September 8lh, 1847 ; 
City of Mexico, September 14th, 1817 ; Bel- 
mont, November 7th, 1861 ; Fort Henry, Feb- 
ruary 6th; 7th, 1862; Fort Donelson, Febru- 
ary isth, 14th, 15th, 16th, 1862; Sliiloh, April 
6Lh, 7th, 1862; Corinth Siege, April 22d to 
May 20th, 1862 ; luka, September I'Jlli, 1862 ; 
Hatchie, October 5th, 1862; Tallahatchie, 
December 1st, 1862; Port Gibson, May 12th, 
1868, Black River Bridge, I\Iay IStli, 1863 ; 
Champion Hills, May 14th, 1863; Black River, 
May 17th, 1863 ; Vicksburg, July 4th, 1863 ; 
Chattanooga, November 23d, 24th, 25th, 26th, 
1863 ; Battles for Richmond, May 5th, 6th, 
7lh, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 1864. To this 
record must be added the series of battles 
fought during the siege of Richmond, and the 
engagement at Five Forks on the 1st of April, 
1865. Among other gifts presented to Gen- 
eral Granl, may be mentioned a house and 
furniture, valued at thirty thousand dollars, 
by citizens of Philadeli)hia ; a house com- 
pletely furnished, with half that amount, a 
piesent from his old Galena friends and for- 
mer neighbors ; horses valued at ten thou- 
sand dollars; a handsome librarj-, which cost 
five thousand dollars, the gift of a few Boston 
gentlemen, and the munificent sum of one 
hundred thousand dollars in cash presented 
by citizens of New York ; and among the 
shower of honors that were heaped upon the 
successful soldier, he was made a Doctor of 
Laws by Harvard and a number of other in- 
stitutions of learning. 

Congress having in July, 1866, created the 
grade of General, the President immediately 
advanced Lieutenant-General Grant to that 
exalted position — one which never before ex- 
isted under our government. Washington 
was General of the Continental arniy, and 
under the Confederation ; but in the United 
States array, he was only Lieutenant-General. 
The vacancy created by Grant's promotion to 
the new grade was now filled by the appoint- 
ment of Major-General W. T. Sherman. Apro- 
](os of Sherman, President Lincoln once rela- 
ted a circumstance illustrating the sagacity of 
Grant, and his agency in other movements of 
the army. Just before the Baltimore Conven- 
tion, a few delegates called upon him, pursuant 
to appointment, and we found him free and 
communicative, as well as hopeful and agree- 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



83 



able. One of our partj' asked his opinion on the 
military situation. " Well, gentlemen," said he, 
" Grant now lias entire control, and I can only 
relate a coiiversalioii I had with him the other 
day. He said his plan was to hold Lee and 
his army in the vicinity of Richmond, wliile 
he sent Sherman through to destroy the Con- 
federacy. I said to him," and the sunbeam 
played over the President's homely face, mak- 
ing it appear positively handsome, ' Grant, I 
don't know much about the technicalities of 
your profession, but as near as I do under- 
stand you, yoii, propose to hold the leg, wliile 
Sheiman takes off the skin.' ' Yes." replied 
Grant, 'that is j'lst what I mean.'" With 
what an iron grasp Grant held the leg, and 
how brilliantly Sherman stripped the hide 
from the rebellion, has now passed into the 
domain of hi.story. 

When, in 1867, President Johnson removed 
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Gene- 
ral Grant was appointed Secretary ad inte- 
rim, a phrase now famous in our political his- 
tory. Although, as Geneial-in-chief, he had 
all the departments under his charge, some of 
which caused him much anxiety and trouble, 
yet his administration of the War Department 
was perfect. Almost immediately after enter- 
ing upon the duties of his new office, he be- 
gan the work of rptrenchment and cut down 
the expenses of the Department several mill- 
ions of dollars. His report at the opening of 
Congress was a clear, statesmanlike document, 
and it is a singular fact that amid the bitter 
party feeling that prevailed at Washington 
when it was made, and when it seemed im- 
possible that any report concerning the con- 
dition and wants of the South could be writ- 
ten, or that he should act as Secretary with- 
out being the subject of abuse ; that he 
should, so free was he from all party bias, so 
sincere and apparent his desire for truth, so 
simple and straightforward his course, have 
utterly disarmed all party rancour. In the 
midst of widespread venality and corruption, 
no man has ever doubted his honesty, though 
he has had almost unlimited control over mill- 
ions of the public money. His administra- 
tion as General-in-chief of the army, and as 
Secretary of War ad interim, is not only mark- 
ed with eminent ability, but distinguished for 
retrenchment and economy. The President — 
no partial witness — in his message of Decem- 
ber, 1867, to the Senate, says that " salutary 
reforms have been introduced by the Secre- 



tarj' ad interim, and great reductions of ex- 
pen.^ses have been etlecied uii<ier \i\> adiuiuis- 
iralion of lh« War Df|)arlnieiii, to liie saviug 
of millions to the Treasury." 

General Grant is not a politician, but a 
patriot. Ever since the downfall of ilio rebell- 
ion, he has been anxious for the earliest pos- 
sible restoration of the insurgent SlaleN to 
their former relatione to the Union. Ho has 
de|)iecated the quarrels between the Execu- 
tive and Legislative depa tnients of ilie gov- 
erimient, which have tended to retard this 
work, while on his part he has labored assid- 
uously to bring it to a successful and liar- 
monious clo.se. In this he has exhibited the 
sterling qualities of a wise and libcial slates- 
man. If he should be elected to llie Presi- 
dency — and few of our readers will entertain 
any doubt on that jioint — all impartial and 
unprejudiced men, whether radicals or Con- 
servatives, and wlietlier dwelling at the North 
or the South, would feel that the Union and 
the Constitution were sale in his hands. 

When the Senate of the United Slates, on 
assembling in December, 18G7, refused to 
sanction the removal of Mr. Stanton, Grant 
at once vacated the office of Secretary of 
War ad interim, deeming it hi.s bounden duty, 
in accordance with his convictions, ujjon a 
close examination of the Tenure of Office Bill, 
to obey the law whether Constitutional or 
not, as it was binding upon him until set 
aside by the proper tribunal. 

General Grant's action in the premises led 
to a long corresjiondence between him and 
the President, in the course of which they 
took diametrically opposite grounds in relation 
to certain occurrences which look place in a 
Cabinet meeting, when the question of Stan- 
ton's reinstatement by the Senate was discuss- 
ed. Grant, after replying to other point-s of 
one of the President's communications, .says, 
that for him to have continued to retain pos- 
session of the office, would have been in vio- 
lation of law, and subjected him to tine and 
perhaps imprisonment, concludes : " When 
my honor as a soldier, and inlegrily as a ra.in 
have been so violently assailed, pardon me 
for saying that I can but regard this whole 
matter, from beginning to end, as an attempt 
to involve me in resistance of law, for which 
you hesitated to assume the resj^nsibility, 
and then to destroy my character before the 
country. I am in a measure, confirmed in 
the conclusion by your recent order from the 



84 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Secretary of War, my superior and your sub- Ihey could do better, but they would not hear 
ordinate." "s- '^'*® nomination of General Grant, by 

On Wednesday, May 20th, the National ] every delegate from every Slate and Territory 

comprised within the boundaries of our Un- 
ion, was a simple proclamation of what the 
masses had already decided. The wild enthusi- 
asm wherewith his name was hailed, will roll 
irrepressibly fiom the Bay of Fundy to the 
Pacific. Apart from all politics and parlies, 
the people are for Grant ; and his vote will 
exceed that of the most popular of candidates 
for Governor, Congress, &c., who may be run 
on the same ticket. We predict that both his 
electoral and his popular majorities will exceed 
those of Lincoln over McClellen. 

, " Those who would fain makebelieve that the 
soldiers who fought gallantly for the Union 
are not heartily for Grant, deceive none — not 
even themselves. Should Hancock be the 
Democratic nominee, he may possibly poll one- 
tenth of the voles of the Union volunteers, with 
nine- tenths of that cast by iheir paroled prison- 
ers who fought for Secession ; but; as against 
a peace Democrat, we believe that Grant 
will make nearly a clean sweep of the Union's 
defenders. Quite a number may still expect 
to oppose him on partisan grounds; but, long 
before the campaign is ended, the foolish 
calumnies of his assailants will impel them to 
' vote as they shot.' As the well-remem- 
bered long roll is sounded in their eai s, they 
cannot ronist the soldierly impulse to ' fall in.' 
General Grant will receive more votes from 
reconstructed rebels than could be obtained 
for any other man who fought gallantly, suc- 
cessfully for the Union. Faithful to his coun- 
try and her flag, he was ever a magnanimous 
foe ; and no man is more anxious than he that 
the bloody, hateful past sliould be speedily 
obscured by a genuine fraternity and mutual 
good will. He fought, not to degrade and de- 
stroy, but to exalt and to save. There is no 
other American in whom all interests and all 
sections cherish so profound a trust as in 
Ulysses S. Grant. Hence, the strength evinc- 
ed by the Republicans in intermediate local 
contests will be no measure, no test of that 
which will be developed when the people 
come to vote consciously for him." 

Another influential journal, the New York 
Times, commenting upon General Grant's 
nomination, remarks, that he ' has the confi- 
dence of the people of the country, of all sec- 
tions, and of all parties. They have faith in 
the integrity of his motives, the clearness of 



Republican Convention met at Chicago, Illi- 
nois, for the purpose of nominating candidates 
for the offices of President and Vice-President 
of the United Slates. On Thursday, General 
Logan rose, the nominations then being in or- 
der, and said, " Then, sir, in the name of the 
loyal citizens and soldiers and sailors of this 
Great Republic of the United Stales of Amer- 
ica—in the name of loyalty, liberty and jus- 
tice ; in the name of the National Union Repub- 
lican pai ly I nominate as candidate for the chief 
magistracy of this nation, Ulysses S. Grant." 
The wildest enthusiasm prevailed upon this 
nomination being made, which was carried 
by acclamation, every vote in the Convention 
being given for the noble soldier and patriot. 
His nomination surprised no one — it had be- 
come thoroughly a " foregone conclusion," and 
the same thing may be safely said in regard 
to his election next November. Eight years 
ago, when a Republican Convention at Chica- 
go nominated Abraham Lincoln, a man not 
altogether unknown, and wherever known re- 
spected, the country was taken by surprise, 
but rallied to his support as no old favorite 
had ever been supported, and in the terrible 
years that followed, gave him a place in the 
popular heart never accorded to anyone ex- 
cept Washington. Now the country is not 
only not surprised at, but actually demands 
the nomination of a man then living at Galena, 
whose name the people had never heard when 
Lincoln was called from his quiet life at 
Springfield. Both Western men, and both 
residents of Illinois, though born, the one in 
Kentucky and the other in Ohio, they were 
nominated for the first oflice in the people's 
gift by National Conventions, held in the me- 
tropohs of their adopted Stale. Lincoln had a 
mission to perform, and the Convention of 1860 
called him forth to perform it ; Grant has that 
work to complete, and the Convention of 1868 
asks him to complete it. His record in the 
past shows the singleness of purpose wilii 
which he will pursue the task allotted to him 
in the future. 

" It was not necessary," says the New York 
Tribune, " to hold a Convention to designate 
the Republican candidate for President. The 
people had already decided that they would 
vote for Ulysses S. Grant, and nobody else. 
We tried for a long while to persuade them 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



his judgment, the practical working of his 
mind, and in his disposition and ability to 
co-operate with those who may share with 
liim the power and responsibility of adminis- 
tration. Never seeking, he never shuns, 
either ; and the modesty which is by many 
mistaken for weakness, implies, as his history 
shows, no lack of whatever self-reliance is re- 
quired for the duties of any position in which 
he may be placed." 

Another leading journal alluding to Grant 
and the Presidency, compares him to the Pa- 
ter Patrice. '• We trust that General Grant 
loves his whole country ; that he desires the 
good of all its citizens, without regard to any 
dividing lines — wiiether they be lines of par- 
ty, or section, or race, or color. It is the no- 
blest reward of great services like his, that 
it exalts the character to this high level ; 
that it enables a man to act nobly without ap- 
pearing to be pretentious. General Grant is 
under a moral necessity of respecting the 
great renown of his past services. It is be- 
neath him to play any common part in vulgar 
politics. The Presidency can be nothing to 
him ; he has a more valuable office. But if, 
in the hands of Providence, he could be an 
instrument for tranquillizing the country, that 
is an honor for which he could afford to sac- 
rifice ease, congenial pursuits, and the possi- 
bilities of still greater fame as a soldier. God 
forbid that he should descend into the arena 
of party contests. If he cannot be elected 
President without such a descent, he can do 
no good in the Presidency. Our torn, lacerat- 
ed, exasperated country needs soothing, needs 
pacification, needs oil on the troubled waters, 
which still toss and dash after the recent tem- 
pest. We would no more have General Grant 
become a party politician than, if we had lived 
in Washington's time, we would have wished 
him to give and return party blows. As Wash- 
ington was elected and re-elected on the 
strength of his character and services, with- 
out pledges either asked or given, we trust 
that General Grant will be elected, if at all, 
in the same way and with the same generous 
confidence. Having restored the authority of 
the Government, we hope that he may add 
the highest civic to the highest military fame 
by restoring long-lost cordiality of feeling." 
The Republican ticket received the follow- 
ing reception from the New York Herald the 
day after the nominations had been made by 
the Chicago Convention : " In U. S. Grant, 



85 

the General-in-chief of the army, and in 
Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the National 
House of Representatives, the Republican 
party has placed a strong, cdiesive, and pi.pu- 
lar Presidential ticket before the jjeople. 
Grant, the great captain of the age, haa also 
I Moved that in the administration of the civil 
affairs of a peace establishment he po.sscs.ses 
those rare endowments of practical states- 
manship which qualify him for all the resjjon- 
sibilities of the executive head of the g.iveru- 
ment in any emergency. It is the general 
impression among the American jioopje that 
in his hands their interests and the honor and 
prosperity of the country will be safe. His 
associate, Speaker Colfax, for one of his age, 
is a man of great experience and sup-rior 
abilities and sagacity in our j»olitical alFairs, 
and, in the event of a call to the White House 
to fill the unexpired term of his colleague, no 
doubt can be entertained tliat he will give us 
a good administration. Nor is the flattering 
reputation of these men limited to the United 
States, for it is substantially the .same abroad 
as at home. The news of their nomination 
will strengthen the confidence of the friends 
of 'the great Republic ' over all the world — 
on the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine, tlie Ne- 
va, and the Danube, and fiom the mighty 
Amazon, rolling its flood of waters down the 
equatorial line, to the imperial Yang-t-se-Kiang 
of China, 'the son of the sea.' Nor will 
that honest faith in American securities at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main be weakened with the 
prospect of the transfer from and after the 
4th of March, 1869, of the reins of our gov- 
ernment to Grant and Colfax. The Chicago 
Convention could not have chosen a better 
ticket. The President ^^ro tern, of tlio Senate, 
Mr. Wade, who led the list of Vice- Presiden- 
tial aspirants on the first two or three ballots, 
would have been to Giant as heavy a load to 
carry as was the Old Man of the Sea to Sin- 
bad the Sailor ; and Fenton, the next highest 
competitor of Colfax, would also havo been 
a dead weight. Co fax, on the other haml, 
gives that jmsitive strength and consistency 
to the ticket which makes it a unit and ex- 
jiands the circle of its influence. He has had 
the valuable training of a new.spaper editor— 
a vocation which in this country is the best 
of schools for an aspiring politician. It 
teaches him all the ins and ont-s of the pro- 
fession and how to avoid those shnnls and 
bars upon which so many of oar greatest 



86 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



statesmen have foundered. The rail-splitter 
and the tailor were a powerful team, but the 
tanner and the editor will match them. There 
is ' nothing like leather,' and the news])aper 
is the tiiird estate of the Nineteenth Century. 
Grant and Colfax are a strong; ticket, and they 
are provided with a movable extension plat- 
form on the negro suffrage question, and on 
the money question, which will accommodate 
all comers of all shades of opinion." 

On the evening of May 22d, General Grant 
was serenaded at his residence in Washington, 
and after the Marine Band had played "Hail 
to the Chief," loud calls were made for Grant. 
When he appeared he was greeted with pro- 
longed cheers, and when silence was restored 
lie was addressed as follows by representative 
Boutwell, of Massachusetts : 

"General: — This assemblage of your fel- 
low-citizens, brought together without organ- 
ization or previous arrangement, have desired 
me to express to you their gratification at 
your unanimous nomination for President of 
the United States (applause) by the Repub- 
lican Convention recently assembled at Chi- 
cago. (Renewed applause.) The unanimity 
with which you have been nominated, almost, 
if not altogether without an example in the 
history of our country, furnishes sufficient in- 
dication of the vast majority, if not entire 
imanimily, with which the nomination will be 
sustained by the loyal people of the country. 
(Applause.) The Republican party has not yet 
had an opportunity to test its capacity for the 
government of the Republic in time cf j>eace. 
We have had a war of more than four years' 
duration, but the valiant and patriotic peojde 
of this coimtry under your leadership quelled 
the mightiest rebellion the world has ever 
seen, against the best government known in 
the history of mankind. You will be sup- 
ported in the contest upon which you have 
entered by the same heroic men who were 
with you at Shiloh, in the Wilderness, and be- 
fore Richmond ; and you are to meet with 
the opposition of a comparatively few of 
those who have returned, to the support of 
the Union, the Constitution and the flag of 
the country, and, with but few exceptions, 
you are to be opposed by tlie same men, ani- 
mated by the same principles which anima- 
ted tlie men engaged in the rebellion you 
Were so instrumental in overthrowing. The 
tiation expects, and will receive from you the 
same devotion to its interests, th? same pa- 



triotism in your purposes, the same integrity 
and firmness of will which characterized your 
command of its armies ; and I doubt not that 
in the contest which is now bef(ire us we shall 
achieve a victory as memorable in the history 
of our country as that which illustrated the 
army of the Republic at the sui'render of 
Richmond. Your fellow-citizens will support 
you in this contest. They will support your 
administration, knowing that your administra- 
tion will be characterized by firmness, by in- 
tegrity, by patriotism, by good sense, and all 
the manly qualities which have marked your 
past career. My fellow-citizens, I have now 
the pleasure of presenting to you the next 
Pi-esident of the United States, General Grant, 
the commatider of your armies." 

General Grant then said, after the renewed 
and long-continued ai)plause had subsided, and 
we think so much has rarely been said in so 
few words : 

"Gentlemen: — Being entirely unaccus- 
tomed to public speaking, and without the de- 
sire to cultivate that power (laughter), it is 
impossible for me to find appropriate language 
to thank you for this demonstration. All that 
I can say is, that to whatever position I may 
be called by your will, I shall endeavor to dis- 
charge its dutiesiWith fidelity and honesty of 
purpose. Of my rectitude in the performance 
of pnblic duties you will have to judge for 
yourselves by my record before you " 

It is a very great mistake to supi)0se that it 
is intended to elect General Grant to the Pre- 
sidency only upon his military record. He has 
shown a capacity for administration, a fi;ness 
for the performance of civil functions, a devo- 
tion to the principles of the Constitution, a 
re.spect for the laws, a degree of political 
sagacity and justice, and a faith in the ideas 
of liberty and progress that constitute far 
higher grounds than liis military record (and 
what general of modern times has a more 
brilliant one T) why he should be elevated to 
a position where he can use his powers for re- 
storing peace and prosperity to our long-suf- 
fe ing and distracted country. The London 
Times attributes to Grant many of the excel- 
lences which characterized our late lamented 
President. " In fact, however, the rough com- 
mon sense and ungain'y shrewdness of a plain 
farmer of New England or Illinois often af- 
ford a better test of public opinion than the 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL GRANT. 



8', 



speeches of professed politicians ; and it was 
not the least of Mr. Lincoln s excellences that 
he was the embodiment of a class which is 
the depository of political power in the Union, 
but which before his time almost wanted a 
representative. General Grant seems to have 
inherited in some degiee this characteristic of 
the late President. It would seem that there 
has never been a more inarticulate hero. The 
words he utters are iew and rugsed ; but 
when they come they express tiie dogged re- 
solution, the ardor slowly kindled, but when 
once alight, steadily maintained ; the un- 
flinching pertinacity, and the power of adapt- 
ing nil ans to ends which, acting together, 
crushed the Southern Confederation, and 
which we are bound to recognize the more 
readily because they are among the best char- 
acteristics we covet for ourselves." 

One of the ablest divines of the country, 
the Rev. Dr. Breckinridge of Kentucky, speaks 
in favor of General Grant for the Presidency, 
in no uncertain tones, not because he thinks 
he is especially available, but because he es- 
teems Grant the fittest man for the office in 
America. He also considers him the best 
specimen of the best sort of an American gen- 
tleman. Not a genius, dazzling everybody 
with the brilliancy of his intellect, but a man 
of great ability — of unsurjjassed judgment, 
and of undoubted fairness and honesty. lie 
thinks he knows the right, and has both the 
courage and the power to do it. He does not 
think that General Grant lacks any essential 
requisite for tlie ruler of this nation during the 
present crisis. There can be no question tiiat 
Dr. Breckinridge, with his great penetration 
and vast experience, is unsurpassed as ashrewd 
judge of character. His opinion of General 
Grant is worth a ton of the laudations to be 
found in partisan newspapers and the meet- 
ings of office-seekers. 

In the course of our narrative, Grant has 
been compared to Wallenstein, William of Or- 
ange, Washington, and Wellington, as a mili- 
tarj'^ commander. In his love of country, sup- 
port ol its laws, above all corrupt or inter- 
tested views, with duty as the pole star by 
which he always steered his course. Grant 
more closely resembles the " Iron Duke " in 
personal and professional character, than 
either ot the other illustrious soldiers. As 
Washington and Wellington won new laurels 
—the civic crown— after their swords were 
forever sheathed, by their firmness, justice, 



and guod judgment, so too, may we not hope 
tliat General Grant will acliiere llie same 
glory as a statesman, which he has already 
won as a soldier — a soldier " second lo nunc," 
tiie motto of the famous cavalry regiment 
known as the " Scotch G:eys," in which .sev- 
eral officers of Grant's name have won re- 
nown. As the Spaniards say, Qinf>i snir. 

The same persistency disi.lnyi'd by ih.- boy 
in riding the mule, and in loa.Iing, unaided, 
the wagon with logs for Iho coiisiruction of 
the Brown county jail, were display, d at 
Fort Donelson, at Vickburg, at Cliallatiooga, 
and during his last campaign against Lee's 
army, and at the rebel capital. On iho ev«- 
ning of that awful battle of the Wilderne.ss, 
when the legions of the Union army had 
fought all day, rather by failli than siglit, ia 
the wild woods and tangled brush, an officer 
suggested to Grant that the army should fall 
back, as it had done under former leader.i, and 
re-organize. ''No, sir,'' replied the (launile.ss 
and intrepid soldier, "we have done very 
well, at half-past three in the uitriiiiig we more 
forward.^' We liave perfect faiih that iho 
prediction made by the jiir iiologist, wlio 
examined his head in 183'2, " Vou need not 
he surprised if you should see this boy tlil the 
Presidential chair some time," will prove true, 
and that he will be eiiually persistent and 
successful in his efforts as Presiilentlo restore 
peace and prosperity to our long sullering 
land, in re-establishing our free institutions on 
the impregnable foundations of justice and 
liberty. See to it, fellow-soldiers, and fellow- 
Republicans, that he is elected to the higlitest 
office, for which he has been duly nominated, 
within the gift of the American j)eople. We 
ai)peal to you by the memory of the heroic 
Sedgwick, the gallant Kearney, the lion- 
hearted McPherson, the patriotic Winthrop, 
and the humbler, but no less heroic martyrs, 
whose three hundred thousand graves lio 
thickly scattered in all portions of the South, 
and by every motive that can influence tlio 
conduct of earnest, patriotic men, see that you 
do not falter in the performance of your dut-y, 
until that duty is thoroughly an I compleudy 
done, and Ulysses S. Grant is elecle<l a suc- 
cessor to George Washington, and the noble 
martyr, Abraham Lincoln. 

In his essay on heroic virtue, Sir William 
Temple names seven illustrious soldiers,* 



• Belisarius, Narsea, Oonnalvo, of f^nrrlova, WilliMn 
I., Prince of Omnire. Alexandpr, Puke of Parma; 
John Hunyades, and George Caatriota. 



8& 



LIFE AND CAMPAIGNe Of GENERAL GRANT. 



who have deserved, without wearing, a crown. 
Had he lived in our day, he might have added 
another to his list, in the person of tlie Gene- 
ral-in-cliief of the American armies, and tlie 
prospective President of the United States, 
Ulysses S. Grant. A kind Providence has 
thus far upheld him in his high position. M;iy 
he be kept secure in his wisdom until the na- 
tion shall in March, 1869, demand his leader- 
ship in the State — a position which we, as re- 
publicans, certainly cannot deem less exalted 
than that of a ruler over monarchies or king- 
doms. With Grant as our next President, the 
country will be restored to its pristine prosper- 



ity The same masterhand, who in his military 
capacity crushed the rebellion, history will 
liereafLer record, gave back the Union of our 
Faiher? ir al. its ancient integrity. Under 
nis wise administration there shall be no more 
wars nc more sectional jealousies, no North, 
n) South- neither East or West, only one 
common country, to be in reality as in name, 
United States of America, and 

" those opposed eyes. 

Which like the meteors of a troubled heaven, 
All of one nature, of one substance bred, 
Did lately meet in the intestine shock, 
Shall now in mutual, well-beseeming ranks, 
March all one way." 



appe:n"dix.. 



EEPORTS AND C R E E S P N D E N C E, 



BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

HEADQUA.BTERS ABMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, ) 

Washington, June 26, 18o5. ) 
Sib : — I have the honor to transmit herewith a full 
and complete return of the battle of Belmont, Mis. 
souri, fought Nov. 7, 1861, which I would respectfully 
ask to have substituted in the place of my report of 
that action of date Nov. 19, 1861, made to General S. 
Williams, Assistant Adjutant-General to the General- 
in-Chief. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
U. S. Gbant, Lieutenant-General. 
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

Eeferred to the Adjutant-General for publication 
Witli the accompanying report. 

E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 
June 27, 18G5. 

llKADQUAETEES DiSTEICT SOUTHEAST JIlSSOUKI, ) 

Calro, 111., Nov. 17, 1»61. ) 

Genebal: — The following order was received from 
Headquarters Western Department: 

St. Louis, Nov. 1, 1861. 
Genebal Gbant, Commanding' at Cairo: 

You are hereby directed to hold your whole com- 
mand ready to march at an hour's notice, until fur- 
ther orders, and you will take particular care to be 
amply supplied with transportation and ammunition. 
You are also directed to make demonstrations witli 
your troo-g along both sides of the river toward 
Charlestoi , Norfolk and Blandvi.le, and to keep your 
columns constantly moving back, and against these 
places, without, however, attacking the enemy. 
Very respectfully, kc, 

Chauncey McKeever. 

Assistant Adjutant-General. 

At the same time I was notified that similar instruc- 
tions had oeen sent to Brigadier-General C I'. Smith, 
commanding Paduoah, Ky.. and was directed to 
communicate with him freely as to my movements, 
that his might be co-operative, 

On the 2d of the same month, and before it was pos- 
sible for any considerable preparation to have been 
made for the execution of this order, the following 
telegraphic dispatch was received: 

St. Louis, Nov. 2d, 1861. 
To Brigadier-Genebal Gbant. 

Jeff Thompson is at Indian's Ford of the St. Fran- 
cois Kiver, twenty-five miles below Greenville, with 
ibout 3,000 men. Col. Carlin has started a with force 



from Pilot Knob. Sent a force from Capo Glranli^a 
and Bird's Point to assist Carlin in drirtug Thump- 
son into Arkansas. 

By order of Major-Gencral Fbkmoht. 

C. M. Eeever, Assistant Adjutant-0«uerul. 

The forces I determined to send from Bird's Point 
were Immediately designated, and Col. J. U. ( Jglcsby, 
Eighth Illinois Volunteers, assigned to the command 
under the following detailed instructions: 

IIeadquabteus District Southeast Missouai, J 
Caibo. Nov. 3, 18C1. J 
Colonel K. J, Oglesbt, Commanding, kc. 

Bird's Point, Mo. : 

You will take command of an exi>oditlon conslat- 
ing of your regiment, four compauiis nf ihu Eleventh 
Illinois, all of tlie Eighteenth and Twenty-ninth, 
three companies of Cavalry from Bird's Point (to bo 
selected and notified by yourself), and a section of 
Schwartz's Battery, artillery, and proceed to Com- 
merce, Missouri. From Commerce, you will strike for 
Sikeston, Mr. Croi^per acting as guide. From there 
go in imrsuit of a rebel force understood to bo 3,000 
strong, under JefrThonipsnn, now at Indian's Ford, 
on the St. Francois Kiver. 

An expedition has already left Ironton, Mo., to at- 
tack this force. Should you learn that they have left 
that place, it will not be necessary for yiu V> nn there, 
but pursue the enemy In any direction he may go, al- 
ways being cautious not to fall in with an unlooked-for 
foe too strong for the command under you. 

The object of the expedition is to destroy this force, 
and the manner of doing it, is Icrt largely at your dis- 
cretion, believing it better not to trammel you ^"Ith 
■nslructious. 

Transportation will be furnished you for fourteen 
days' rations and four or five days' forage. All yoo 
may require outside of this, must bo f urnishcil by th« 
country through which you pass. In taking suiip'.lc* 
you w ill be careful to select a proper otHcer to proa* 
them, and require a receipt to bo given, and the arti- 
cles pressed, accounted for in the same manner as if 
purchased. 

You are particularly enjoined to allow no fora^ng 
by your men. It is demoraUzing in the extreme, and 
is apt to make open enemies, where they would not 
otherwise exist. U. S. Grvnt. Brigatllcr-Ocneral. 

Colonel J.B. Plummer Eleventh Mift-wurl Volun. 
teers, commanding Cajw Girardeau, wm dmcud to 
send one regiment In the direction of Bloomfleld,with 
a Tiew to attracting the attention of the cnem7. 



90 



APPENDIX. 



The forces under Col. Oglesby, were all got off on 
the evening of the 3d. 

On the 5lh, a telegram was received from head- 
quarters, St. Louis, stilting that the enemy was rein- 
forcing Price's Army, from Columbus, by way ol 
White Rivor, and directing that the demonstration 
that had been ordered against Columbus be imme- 
diately made. Orders were accordingly at once given 
to the troops under my command that remained at 
Cairo, Bird's Point, and Fort Holt. A letter was also 
sent to Brigadier-General C. F. Smith, commanding at 
Paducah, requesting him to make a demonstration at 
the same time against Columbus. 

To more affeclually attain the object of the demon- 
stration against the enemy at Belmont and Columbus, 
I determined on the morning of the 6th,to temporarily 
change the direction of Col. Oglesby's column to- 
ward New-Madrid, and also to send a small force un- 
der Col. W. H. L. Wallace, Eleventh Ulinois Volun- 
teers, to Charleston, Mo., to ultimately join Col. 
Oglesby. In accordance with this determination, I 
addressed Col. Oglesby the following communication : 

Caibo, Nov. 6, 18C1. 
Colonel B. J. Oglesby, Commanding Expedition: 

On receipt of this, turn your column toward New- 
Madrid. When you arrive at the nearest point to 
Columbus from which there is a road to that place, 
communicate With me at Belmont. 

U. S. Grant, Brigadier-General. 

Which was sent to Col. Wallace with the following 

Cairo, Nov. 6, 18G1. 
Colonel W. II. L. Wallace, Bird's Point, Mo.: 

Herewith X scud you an order to Col. Oglesby to 
change the direction of his column, toward New- 
Madi id, halting to communicate with me at Belmont 
from the nearest point on his road. 

I desire you to get up the Charleston expedition or- 
dered for to-morrow, to start to-night, taking two 
days' rations with them. You will accompany them 
to Charleston and get Col. Oglesby's instructions to 
him by a messenger, if practicable, and when he is 
near enough, you may join him. For this purpose, 
you may s .bstitute the remainder of your regiment 
In place of an equal amount from Col. Marsh's. The 
two days' rations carried by your men in haversacks, 
will enable you to join Col. Oglesby's command, and 
there you will find rations enough for several days 
more, should they be necessary. You may take a lim- 
ited number of tents, and at Charleston ijress wagcms 
to carry them to the main column. There you will 
find sufficient transportation to release the pressed 
wagons. U. S. Grant, Brigadier-General. 

On the evening of the 0th, I left this place on steam- 
ers, with McCleruand's brigade, consisting of Tavcu- 
ty-seventh regiment Illinois Volunteers, Col. N. B. 
Buford ; Thirtieth regiment, Illinois Volunteers, Col. 
Philip B. Fonke; Thirty-first regiment, Illinois Vol- 
unteers, Col. John A. Logan ; Dollins' company In- 
dependent Illinois Cavalry, Capt. J. J. DoUons; 
Delano's company, Adams County, Illinois Cavalry, 
Lieut. J. R. CatUn. 

Dougherty's brigade, consisting of Twenty-second 
regiment, Illinois Volunteers, Lieut -Col. H. E. Hart; 
Seventh regiment, Iowa Volunteers, Col. J. G. Lau- 
man, amounting to 3,114 men of all arms, to make 
the demonstration against Columbus. I proceeded 



down the river to a point nine miles below here, whore 
we lay until next morning, on the Kentucky shore, 
which served to distract the enemy, and lead him to 
suppose that he was to be attacked in his sti ongly 
fortified position at Columbus. 

About 2 o'clock on the morning of the 7th, I re- 
ceived information from Col. W. H. L. Wallace at 
Charleston (sent by a messenger on board steamer 
W. H. B.) that he had learned from a reliable Union 
man, that the enemy had been crossing from Colum- 
bus to Belmont the day before, for the purpose of 
following after, and cutting off the forces under Col. 
Oglesby. Such a move on his part seemed to me 
more than probable, and gave at once a two-fold im- 
portance to my demonstration against the enemy; 
namely, the prevention of reinforceme ts to Gen. 
Price, and the cutting off of the two columns that I 
had sent, in pursuance of directions, from this place 
and Cape Girardeau in pursuit of Jeff Thomp.son. 
This information determined me to attack vigorously 
liis forces at Belmout, knowing that should we be re- 
pulsed, we could re-embark without difficulty under 
the protection of the gunboats. The following order 
was given : 

On Boarb Ste.\m'r Belle, Memphis, 1 
Nov. 7, ISGl— 2 o'clock A. M. i 

Special Order. —The troops composing the pres- 
ent expedition from this place will move promptly at 
6 o'clock this mo'-ning. The gunboats will take the 
advance and be followed by the First brigade, under 
command of Brig.-Cten. John A. McClern.ind, com- 
posed of all the troops from Cairo and Fort Holt. The 
Second brigade, comprising the remiiuder of the 
troops of the expedition, commanded by Col. John 
Dougherty, will follow. The entire force will de- 
bark at the lowest point on the Missouri shore, where 
a landing can be effected in security from the rebel 
batteries. The point of debarkation will be desig- 
nated by Capt. Walke, commanding naval forces. 

By order of Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, 

John A. Rawlins, A. A. G. 

Promptly at the hour designated, we proceeded down 
the river to a point just out of range of the rebel bat- 
teries at Columbus, and debarked on the Missouri 
shore. From here, the troops were marched with 
skirmishers well in advance, by flank for about one 
mile towards Belmout, and there formed in line of 
battle. One battalitm had been left as a reserve near 
the transports. Two companies from each regiment 
were thrown forward as skirmishers, to ascertain the 
position of the enemy, and about nine o'clock met 
and engaged him. The balance of my force, with the 
exception of the reserve, was promiitly thrown for- 
ward, and drove the enemy foot by foot, and from 
tree to tree, back to his encampment on the river 
bank, a distance of over two miles. Here he had 
strengthened his jiosition by felling the timber for 
several hundred yards around his camp, making a 
sort of abatis. Our men charged through this, driv- 
ing the enemy under cover of the bank, and many of 
them into their transports in quick time, leaving us 
in possession of everything not exceedingly portable. 

Belmout is situated on low ground, and every foot 
is commanded by the guns on the opposite shore, and, 
of course, could not be held for a single hour after 
the enemy became aware of the withdrawal of his 
troops. Having no wagons with me, I could move 



APPENDIX. 



91 



but little of the captured property, consequently gave 
orders for the destructiou of everything tliat cimld. 
not be moved, and an immediate return to our traus- 
porta. Tents, blankets &c., were set on fire and de- 
stroyed, and our return march commenced, taking his 
artillery and a large number of captured horses and 
prisoners with us. Three pieces of artillery being 
drawn by hand, and one by an inefacient team, were 
spiked and left on the road; two were brought to this 
place. 

We had but fairly got under way, when the enemy 
haying received reinforcements, railed under cover 
of the river bank and the woods on the point of land 
in the bend of the river above us, and made his ap- 
pearance between us and our transports, evidently 
with a design of cutting oflf our return to them. 

Our troops were not in the least discouraged, but 
charged the enemy and again defeated him. We then, 
with the exception of the Twenty-seventh Illinois, 
Col. N. B. Buford commanding, reached our trans- 
ports, and emliarked without further molestation. 
While waiting the arrival of thia regiment, and to get 
some of our wounded, from a field hosi^ital near by, 
the enemy, having crossed fresh troops from Colum- 
bus, again made his appearance on the river bank, 
and commenced firing upon our transjiorts. The fire 
was returned by our men from the decks of the 
steamers, and also by the gunboats, with terrible 
eflfect, compelling him to retire in the direction of 
Belmont. In the meantime, Col. Buford, although 
he had received orders to return with the main force, 
took the Charleston road from Belmont, and came in 
on the road leading to Bird's Point, where we had 
formed the line of battle in the morning. At this 
point, to avoid the shells from the gunboats, that were 
beginning to fall among his men, he took a blind path 
direct to the river, and followed a wood road up it.s 
bank, and thereby avoided meeting the enemy, who 
were retiring by the main road. On his appearance on 
the river bank a steamer was dropped down and took 
his command on board, without his having partici- 
pated IT lost a man in the enemy's attempt to cut uis 
off from our transports. 

Notwithstanding the crowded state of our trans- 
ports, the only loss we sustained from the enemy's 
fire upon them, was three men wounded, one of whom 
belonged to one of the boats. 

Our loss in killed on the field was 85, 301 wounded 
(many of them, however, slightly), and 99 missing 
Of the wounded 125 fell into the hands of the enemy. 
Nearly all the missing weie from the seventh lowu 
regiment, which suffered more severely than an\ 
Other, All the troops behaved with great gallantry, 
which was in a degree attributable to the coolness 
aad- presence of mind of their ofl&cers, particularly 
the colonels commanding. 

General McClernand was in the midst of danger 
throughout the engagement, and displayed both cool- 
ness and judgment. His horse was three times shot 
under him. 

Colonel Dougherty, of the Twenty-second Illinois 
Volunteers, commanding the Second brigade, by his 
coolness and bravery, entitles himself to be named 
among the most competent of officers for command 
of troops in battle. In our second engagement ho 
was three times wounded, and fell a prisoner in the 
bands of the enemy. 



Among the killed v.-zs Llent.CoI. A. Wentr. Seventh 
Iowa Vuiuiit,-, iH, und among the w.mii.lfd w.r.- C.l. 
J. G. Lauman and Major E. W. Rice, of the Seventh 
Iowa. 

The reports of sub-commanders will d.tall more 
fully particulars of the entsagomcuts, and the conduct 
of both olHoers and men. 

To my stuff, Cupt. John A. lUwIlns. A»KlRt»nt Adju- 
tant-General ; Lieuts. C. U. L^igow, aiid Wm. S. lliU. 
yer, Aids-de-camp, and Cupt. U. U. luuh. .\HHl»Unt 
Quartermaster. I am much indebted for th.- pronipll. 
tude with which they discharged their sevral .lutlen. 
Surgeon J. H. Brinton, United StaU-» Voluiit.MTn, 
chief medical officer, was on the field during the en- 
tire engagement, and displayed great ability and «ra- 
ciency in providiug for tue wounded, and m org*u- 
iziiig the medical corps. 

Major J. D. Webster, acting Chief-Engineer, alno 
accompanied me on the field, and displayed eoldlerly 
quahties of a high order. 

My own horse wa.<> sbot under mo during the en- 
gagement. 

The gunboats Tyler, Capt. Waike, and Lennglon, 
Capt. btembolt, conveyed the expedition and ren- 
dered most efficient service. Immediately upon our 
landing, they engaged the enemy's butteries on tho 
heights above Columbus, and prot<'cteil our tmniiiiortt 
throughout. For a detailed account of tin- part Uk<n 
by them, I refer with ple,i8ure to tho ai-i'umpauyiU|{ 
report of Capt. H. S. Walke, senior offioer. 

In pursuance of my request. Gen. timith, com- 
manding at Paducah, sent on the 7th instant, a force 
to Mayfleld, Kentucky, and another in the direction 
of Columbus, with orders not to approach ni-arer, 
liowever, than twelve or fifteen miles ol that place. 
I also sent a small force on the Kentucky side toward 
Columbus, under Col. John Cook, Stventh Illinois 
Volunteers, with orders not to go beyond Elliott's 
Mills, distant some twelve miles from Columbus. 
These forces having marched to the points designutod 
intheir orders, returned, without having met senuiia 
resistance. 

On the evening of the 7th, infomuition of the result 
of the engagement at Belmont was sent to CoL Oglea- 
by, commanding expedition against Jeff Thomiuion, 
and ordered, to return to Bird's Point by %ay of 
Charleston, Missouri. Before these readied him. how- 
over, he had learned that Jeff Thompsoii hail left the 
place where he was reported to be, when thi- expedi- 
tion started (he having gone toward New-Mndrid or 
.Vrkansas), and had determined to return. The same 
information was sent to the commanding officer at 
Cape Girardeau, with directions for the troops to bo 
brought back that had gone out from that pluce. 

From all the information I have been able to obtain 
since the engagement, the enemy's lobs in killed and 
wounded was much greater than ours. We c-.»pturo«l 
175 prisoners, all his artiller}', and tranHportatiou, and 
destroyed his entire cjimp and garrison e<)ui|>a((e. 
Independent of the injuries inflicted up m hira. and 
tho prevention of his reinforcing Prici-, or sending a 
force to cut off the expeditions against Jeff Thomp- 
son, the cotldonce inspired in our troops In the en- 
gagement will be of incalculable l>eneflt to u* in tb« 
future. Very respecthiUy. your obedient servant, 
tl. S. Grant, Brigadier-tieneral. 
Brigadier-General Seth Williams, Assistant Adju- 
tant-General, Washington, D. 0. 



^2 



'g 



APPENDIX. 



THE CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 

IHB COBBESPONDENCE BETWEEN GENS. OBANT AND 
PEMBERTON. 

Headquarters, Vicksbubo, July 3. 
Majob-Genebai, U. S. Gbant, Commanding U. 8. 
forces : 
General : — I have the honor to propose to you an 

armistice for hours, with a view to arranging 

terms for the capitulation of Vicksburg. To this 
end, if agreeable to you, I will appoint three com- 
missioners to meet a like number, to be named by 
yourself, at such place and hour to-day as you may 
find convenient. I make this proposition to save the 
further effusion of blood, which must otherwise be 
shed to a frightful extent — feeling myself fully able 
to maintain my position as yet for an indefinite 
period. 

This communication will be handed you under a 
flag of truce, by Major-General Bowen. 

Very respectfully, your obed't servant, 

John C. Pemberton. 
To this General Grant replies as follows : 

Headquakteus Department Tennessee, in ) 
THE Field near Vicksburg, July, 3. ) 

Lieutenant - General FEirtBERioM, Commanding 
Confederate forces, etc. : 

General : — Your note of this date is just received, 
proposing an armistice of several hour* for the pur- 
pose of arranging terms of capitulation through com- 
missioners to be appointed. The effusion of blood 
you propose stopping by this course can be ended ai 
anytime you may choose, by an unconditional sur- 
render of the city and garrison. Men who havi 
shown so much endurance and courage as those now 
in Vicksburg, will always challenge the respect ol 
an adversary, and, I can assure you, will be treateii 
with all the respect due them as prisoners of war. ] 
do not favoi the proposition of appointing commis- 
sioners to arrange terms of capitulation, because 1 
have no other terms than those indicated above. 

I am, General, very respectfully your obedient 
servant, U. S. Grant. 

Major-General Bowen, the bearer, of PcmbertonV 
letterfwas received by General A. J. Smith. He ex- 
pressed a strong desire to converse with General 
Grant, and accordingly Grant, while declining this, 
requested General Smith to say that, if General 
Pemberton desired to see him, an interview would be 
granted between the lines, in McPherson's front, at 
any time in the afternoon which Pemberton might 
appoint. 

A message was soon sent back to Smith, appoint- 
ing 3 o'clock as tlie time. 

Grant was there with his staff, and with Generals 
Ord, McPherson, Logan and A. J. Smith. Pember- 
ton came late, attended by Genei-al Bo-^yen and 
Colonel Montgomery'. He was much excited, and 
■was impertinent in his answer to Grant. The con- 
versation was held apart between Pemberton and 
his ofiBcors, and Grant, McPherson and A. .T. Smith. 
The rebels insisted on being paroled, and allowed to 
march beyond our lines, officers and all, with eight 
days' rations, drawn from their own stores; the 
officers to retnin tlieir property and body servants 

Grant heard what they had to say, and left them 



at the end of an hour and a-half, saying that he 
would send his ultimatum in writing, to which Pem- 
berton promised to reply before night— hostilities to 
cease in the meantime. 

Grant then conferred at his headquarters with hia 
corps and division commanders, and sent the follow- 
ing letter to Pemberton by the hands of General 
Logan and Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson : 

Headquarters Department Tennessee, ) 
NEAB Vicksburg, July 3, 18(i3. | 

Lieutenant-General J. C. Pemberton, Command- 
ing Confederate forces at Vicksburg, Miss. : 
General : — In conformity with the agreement of 
this afternoon, I submit the following proposition 
for the surrender of the city of Vicksburg, the pub- 
lic stores, etc. On your accepting the terms propos- 
ed, I will march in one division as a guard, and take 
possession at 8, a. m., to-morrow. As soon as paroles 
can be made out and stamped by the officers and 
men, you will be allowed to march out of the lines— 
the officers taking with them their regimental cloth- 
ing, and stalf, field and cavalry officers one horse 
each. The rank and file will be allowed all their 
clothing, but no other property. 

If these conditions are excepted, any amount of 
rations you may deem necessary, can be taken from 
the stores you now have, and also the necessary cook- 
ing utensils for preparing them. Thirty wagons 
Iso, counting two horse or mule-teams as one, you 
vill be allowed to transport such articles as cannot 
)e carried along. The same conditions will be al- 
owed all sick and wounded officers and privates as 
ivst as they become able to travel. The paroles for 
hese latter must be signed, however, whilst officers 
ire present authorized to sign the roll of prisoners. 
I am, General, very respectfully, , 
Your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

The officer who received this letter staled that it 
>e would impossible to answer it by night, and it 
vas not till a little before daylight that the follow- 
ng reply was furnished : 

Headquarters, Vicksburg, ) 
July 4, 1863. ) 

To Major-Genebal U. S. Grant, commanding U. 
S. forces, etc. 
General : — I Iiave the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your communicAtion of this date, proposing 
terms of the surrender of this garrison and post. In 
the main your terms are accepted; but, in justice 
both to the honor and spirit of my troops, manifested 
in defence ot Vicksburg, I have the honor to submit 
the following amendments, which, if acceded to by 
you, will perfect the agreement : At 10 o'clock to- 
morrow I propose to evacuate the works in and 
around Vicksburg, and to surrender the city ftsl 
garrison under my command, by marching out with 
ray colors and arms, and stacking them in front of 
my present lines ; after which you will take posses- 
sion ; the officers to retain their side-arms and per- 
sonal property, and the rights and property of citi- 
zens to be respected. 

1 am, General, 

Yours very respectfully, 
J. C. Pemberton, Lieutenant-Oeneral. 
To this, General Grant immediately replied as fol- 
lows: 



APPENDIX. 



Headq's Depabtment of the Tennekr'ee, I 
Bf.foke Vick!.durq, July i, l^t>». j 
Lieutenant-GeneralJ. C. Pembebion. CtmiDandiDg 
forces in Vicksburg : 

General :— I have the honor to acknoTsledR-! y iur 
communiciitionot the Sdof July. Ice HmtDdmeD's 
proposed by you cannot be acceded to in lull. It vviil 
be necessary to tiirnish every oSictr and n.an wili a 
parole signed by himself, whicli, with the cotti/lction 
of the rolls of prisoners, will necessatny take £om<j 
time. 

A^in, I can make no stipulation with regard ti 
the treatment of citizens and their private property. 
While I do not propose to cause any of them any un- 
due annoyance or loss, I cannot consent to place 
myself under restraint by stipulations. The pro- 
perty which oilicers can be allowed to take with tht m 
will be as stated in my proposition of last evening; 
that is, officers will be allowed their private baggage 
and side-arms, and wounded otBcers one horse each. 

If you mean, by your position, for each brigade to 
march to the front of the lines now occupied by it, 
and stack their arms, at 10 a. m., and then return to 
the inside, and remain as prisoners until properly 
paroled, 1 will make no objection. 

Should no indication be made of your acceptance 
of my terms by 9 o'clock a. m., I shall regard them as 
having been rejected, and act accordingly. Should 
these terms be accepted, while flags will be displayed 
along your lines, to prevent such of my troops as 
may not have been notified from firing upon your 
men. 

I am, General, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Major-Oeneral. 

To this the subjoined answer was received : 

Headquarters, Vicksbobo, ) 
July 4th, I8(i3. { 
Genebai<: — 1 have the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your communication of this date, and, in 
reply t« it, say that the terras proposed by you are 
accepted. Very rerpectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
J. C. Pemberton, Lieutenant-Qeneral. 



BRAGGS REPORT OP THE BATTLE OF 
CHATTANOOGA. 

Headciuartebs, Army of the Tennessee, ) 
Dalton, Ga., November 30, 18G3. j 

Sir:— On Monday, the 23d, the enemy advanced 
in heavy force, and drove in our picket line in front 
of Missionary Ridge, but made no further effort. On 
Tuesday morning early, they threw over the river a 
heavy force opposite the north end of the Ridge, and 
just below the mouth of the Chickamauga, at the 
same time displaying a heavy force in our immediate 
front. 

After visiting the right and making dispositions 
I there for the new development in that direction, I 
returned towards the left, to find a heavy connonad- 
ing going on from the enemy's batteries on our forces 
occupying the slope of Lookout Mountain, between 
the crest and the river. A very heavy force soon ad- 



vanced to the a«i*iuU, and was met by one Irifrnda 
culy- Walthall's, whi(h mail.- nd.»pn.il.- ir«iHUj,». 
butwa* tin^lly coiuptlltd toyitll (■i..iind - why this 
corumhiid W..S n(.t susUiutd u yet uii. xpUinMl. 1 ho 
ccnimiiudtron thot pirtof the fit Id, Majoi-Ueii«idl 
h":%CD,on, lud eiK Lrifhdn at )•■< dirp(.>>.<l. Uj>'"« 
lituigint apptil, aiiolhtr bri)«rtdc >»a» JMr<<'t>ic(l 
in tbe afltrnoon to his suppoit, thuuvh >t B|/|xr.ii>r<l 
lis own fcrccs had not been biouyhl luto action, and 
I proceeded to the scene. 

A rri ving just betore sunset, 1 found we had lost M 
the advantages of the position. Urdem were imme- 
diately given for the ground to be di.tputed until we 
could withdraw our forces across ChaitanooKii creek, 
and the movement was comracnci'd. Tlii» hnviag 
betn successfully accomplished, our whole forct* 
were concentrated on the Ridge, and extended to the 
right to meet the movement in that direction. 

On Wednesday, the 2.')th, I again visited the ex- 
treme right, now under Lieutenant-General Uarde<>, 
and threatened by a heavy force, whilst column* 
could be seen marching in that direction. A very 
heavy force in line of battle confronted our leit and 
centre. 

On my return to this point, about eleven a. m., the 
enemy's forces were being moved in heavy muxaea 
trom Lookout, and beyond to our front, whilst thono 
m front extended to our right. They lunned their 
lines, with great deliberation, just beyond the raot^ 
of our guns, and in plain view of our position. 

Though greatly outnumbered, such was the strenRh 
of our position, that no doubt was enterLiinudof our 
ability to hold it, and every disposition wan made for 
that purpose. 

Luring this time they had made pt-ver.il attempts 
on our extreme right, ind had been hdndsomely r»- 
pulsed with very heavy loss, by Mdjcr-Orneral i'%- 
butne's command, under thj immediate tlirecLiui of . 
Lie'j tenant-General Hirdee. 

hv (ho Told, cro>3 (Sic) tiie ndg^ *t Rcx<K>vilie,f(tf.te 
our left, a route was open to our rear. MajorJ-iene- 
lal Itreckinridge, comminding on the lilt, tmi'uoco- 
pied this with two regiments, and a battery. . It 
beins> reported to me that a force ot the ememy b»d. 
moved m (hat direction, (he general was <irdared to 
lia-ve it reconnoitered, and to make every dj»{jn«iti«n 
necessary to secure bis flank, which tw pmceoded 
to do. 

About three and a-half p M., the imatenae (or«« in 
the front C'f <uir left and rentr? ad\i'«act.'d io tbre« 
lines, preceded by lienvy «kiimishers» i)ur battt-nea 
opened with fine eflFect. ind much '■(intuuu/a^ tiui pro- 
duced, before they reached raii.«ket ranvt;.. 

In a .short time the war of musketrv oecarae rtrf 
heavy, and it was s(K>n apparent (but the i-nemy had 
been repulsed in my immediate front. 

Whilst riding along the crest, r«nfjrratu)atin)r the 
troops, intelligence re.iched me that i.iur hne wiw bro- 
ken on my right, and the enemy had crownoJ tho 
ridge. Assistance was promptly disi>atcln'<l to that 
point under Brigailier-General B.tte, who had to suc- 
cessfully maintained the ground in my front, and I 
proceeded to the rear of the broken line to rally our 
retiring troops and return tbem to Itie crent to drive 
the enemy twick. General Rate ti>und the disaaler bo 
great that his small force could not repair it. 

About this time I learned that our extreme lrftha4 
also given way, and that mr, peaition wa« almoatfur*. - 



APPENDIX. 



rounded. Bate was immediately directed to form a 
Becond line in the rear, where by the efforts of my 
staff, a nucleus of stragglers had been formed uijoo 
■whith to rally. 

Lieuteniint-General Hardee, leaving Major-Oene- 
ral Cleburne in command on the cxtremj Ii^l.^ 
moved towards the left, when he heard the heavy 
firing in that direction. He reached ths right of 
Anderson's division just in fime to find it had near),- 
all fallen back, commencing on its left -whers the 
enemy had first crowned the ridge. By a prompt and 
judicious movement, he threw a portion of Cheat- 
ham's division directly across the ridge, facing th;> 
enemy, who was now moving a strong force imme- 
diately on his left flank. By a decided stand here tlie 
enemy was entirely checked, and that portion ot our 
force to the right remained mtact. 

All to the left, however, except a portion cf Bate's 
division, was entirely routed, and in rapid flight- 
nearly all the artillery having been BbamefuUy aban- 
doned by its infantry support. 

Every effort which could be made by myself and 
staff, and by many other mounted officers, availed 
but little. A panic, which I had never before wit- 
nessed, seemed to have seized upon officers and men, 
and each seemed to be struggling for his personal 
safety, regardless of his duty or his character. 

In this distressing and alarming state of affairs, 
General Bate was ordered to hold his position, cover- 
ing the road for the retreat of Breckinridge's com- 
mand ; and orders were immediately sent to Generals 
Hardee and Breckinridge to retire their forces upon 
the depot at Chickamauga. 

Fortunately, it was now near nightfall, and the 
country and roads in our rear were fully known to 
us, but equally unknown to the enemy. 

The routed left made its way back in great disor- 
der, effectually covered, however, by Bate's small 
command, which had a sharp conflict with the ene- 
my's advance, driving it back. After night, all 
being quiet. Bate retired in good order— the enemy 
attempted no pursuit. 

Lieutenant-General Hardee's command, under his 
judicious management, retired in good order and un- 
molested. 

As soon as all troops had crossed, the bridges over 
the Chickamauga were destroyed to impede the ene- 
my, though the stream was fordable at several places. 

No satisfactory excuse can jwssibly be given for the 
shameful conduct of our troops on the left, in allow- 
ing their line to be penetrated. The position was 
one which ought to have been held by a line of 
skirmishers against any assaulting column ; and 
wherever resistance was made, the enemy fled in dis- 
order after suffering heavy loss. Those who reached 
the Eidge, did so in a condition of exhaustion from 
the great physical exertion in climbing, which ren- 
ilered them powerless ; and the slightest efl'ort would 
have destroyed them. 

Having secured much of our artillery, they soon 
availed themselves of our panic, and turnine our 
guns upon us, enfiladed the lines both right and left, 
rendering them entirely untenable. 

Had all parts of the line been maintained with 
equal gallantry and persistence, no enemy could ever 
have dislodged us ; and but one possible reason pre- 
sents itself to my mind, in explanation of this bad 
txinduct in veteran troops, who had never before 



failed in any duty assigned tbem, however difficult 
and bazardcius. 

They had, for two days, confronted the enemy, 
raar>-hitning his immense forces in plain view, and 
( shibitin^ to their sight such a superiority in num- 
bers, a^ may have intimidated weak minds and un- 
tried soldiers. 

But our veterans had so often encountered similar 
host?, when strength of position was against us, and 
with perfect success, that not a doubt crossed my 
mind. 

As yet I am not fully informed, as to the com- 
mands which first fled, and brought this great disas- 
ter and disgrace upon our arms. Investigation will 
bring out the truth, however, and full justice shall be 
done to the good and the bad. 

After arriving at Chickamauga, and informing 
myself of the full condition of affairs, it was decided 
to put the army in motion for a point further re- 
moved from a powerful and victorious army, that we 
might have some little time to replenish and recuper- 
ate for another struggle. The enemy made pursuit 
as far as Ringgold, but was so handsomely checked 
by Mijor-General Cleburne and Brigadier-General 
Gist, in command of their respective divisions, that 
he gave us but little annoyance 

Lieutenant-General Hardee, .is usual, is entitled 
to my warmest thanks and high commendation for 
his gallant and judicious conduct during the whole 
of the trying scenes through which we passed. 

Major-General Cleburne, whose command defeated 
the enemy in every assault on the 25th, and who 
eventually charged and routed him on that day, cap- 
turing several stands of colors and several hundred 
prisoners, and who afterwards brought up our rear 
with great success, again charging and routing 
the pursuing column at Ringgold, on the 27th, is 
commended to the special notice of the government. 

Brigadier-Generals Gist and Bate, commanding 
divisions, Cumming, Walthall, and Polk, command- 
brigades, were distinguished for coolness, gallantry, 
and successful conduct, throughout the engagements, 
and in the rear-guard on the retreat. 

To my staff, personal and general, my thanks are 
specially due for their gallant and zealous efl'orts, 
under fire, to rally the broken troops and restore 
order ; and for their laborious services in conducting 
successfully the many and arduous duties of the re- 
treat. 

Our losses are not yet ascertained ; but in killed 
wounded, it is known to have been very small. In 
prisoners and stragglers, I tear it is much larger. 

The chief of artillery reports the loss of forty 

pieces. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
Bbaxton Bragg, General commanding. 
General S. Cooper, 

Adjutant-General C. 8. A., Richmond. 



GENERAL GRANT'S ORDER TO MEADE, 
ORD AND SHERIDAN. 

CiTT PorNT, Va., March 29, 1865. 
Generai.: — On the 29 th instant, the armies oper- 
ating against Richmond will be moved by our left 



APPENDIX. 



95 



for the double purpose of turning the enemy out of 
his present position around Petersburf/f, and to en- 
sure the success of the cavalry under General Sheri- 
dan, who will start at the same time, in his efforts to 
reach and destroy the South Side Railroads. 

Two corns of the Army of the Potoraac will be 
moved at first in two columns taking the two roads 
crossing Hatcher's run, nearest where the present 
line held by us strikes that stream, both running to- 
wards Dinwiddle Court House. 

The cavalry under General Sheridan joined by the 
division under General Davies, will move at the same 
time, by the Weldon road and the Jerusalem plank 
road, turning west from the latter before crossing the 
Kottoway, and west with the whole column before 
reaching Stony Creek. General Sheridan will then 
move independently, under other instructions which 
will be given him. All dismounted cavalry belong- 
ing to the Army of the Potomac, and the dismounted 
cavalry from the Middle Military Division, not re- 
quired tor guarding property belonging to their arm 
of the seivic*, will report to Brigadier-General Ben- 
ham, to be added to the defences of City Point. 
Major-General Parke will be left in command of all 
the army left for holding the lines about Petersburg 
and City Point, subject of course to orders from the 
commander of the Army of the Potomac. The Ninth 
Army Corps will be left intact to hold the present 
line of works so long as the whole line was occupied 
by us is held. If, however, the troops to the left of 
Kinth Corps are withdrawn, then the left of the 
corps may be thi-own back so as to occupy the posi- 
tion held by the army prior to the capture of the 
"Weldon road. All troops to the left of the Ninth 
Corps will be held in readiness to move at the short- 
est notice by such route as may be designated when 
the order is given. General Ord will detach three 
divisions, two white and one colored, or so much of 
them as he can and hold his present lines, and march 
for the present left of the Army of the Potomac. In 
the absence of further orders or until further order is 
given, the white divisions wiU follow the left column 
of the Army of the Potomac, and the colored divis- 
ions t 3 right column. During the movement, 
Major-General Weitzel will be left in command of 
all the forces remaining behind of the Army of the 
James. 

The movement of troops from the Army of the 
James, will commence on the night of the 27th in- 
stant. General Ord will leave behind the minimum 
number of cavalry necessary for picket duty in the 
absence of the main army. A cavalry expedition 
&om General Ord's command will also be started 
from Suffolk, to leave there on Saturday, the 1st of 
April, under Colonel Sumner, for the purpose of cut- 
ting the railroad about Hicksford. This, if accom- 
plished, will have to be a surprise, and therefore from 
three to five hundred men wiU be sutficient. They 
should, however, be supported by all the infantry 
that can be spared from Norfolk and Portsmouth, as 
far out as to where the cavalry crosses the Black- 
water. The crossing should probably be at Unitee. 
Should Colonel Sumner succeed in reaching the 
"WelcUn road, he will be instructed to do all the 
damage possible to the triangle of roads between 
Hicksford, "Weldon and Gaston. The railroad bridge 
at "Weldon being fitted up for the passage of carriages. 



It might be practicable to destroy any accumulation 
of supplies the enemy may have coUectixl south of 
the Roanoke. All the troops will move with four 
days' rations in haversacks and eight in wag.jn«. To 
avoid as much hauling as possible, and to give the 
Army of the James the same number of duyn' supply 
with the Army of the Potomac. Uenc-iul' (JrJ will 
direct his commissary and quurtenuii.ler to have 
sufficient supplies delivered at the tenumuj. of the 
road to fill up in passing. Sixty rounds of ammuni- 
tion will be taken in wagons and as much grain oa 
the transportation on hand will carry after Uking 
the specified amount of other sui)plies. The den!«.ly- 
wooded country in which the army have to i)iK.Tate 
making the u.se of much artillery imiiracticable, Ih* 
amount taken with the anuy will be reduced to nix 
or eight guns to each division, at the option of the 
army commanders. 

All necessary preparations for cany ing these direc- 
tions into operation may be commonced at once. The 
reserves of the Ninth Coips should be radiwed aa 
much as possible. Whihit I would not now order an 
unconditional attack on the enemy's line by them, 
they should be ready and make the attack if the 
enemy weakens his hne in their front, without wait- 
ing for orders. 

In case they carry the line, then the whole of the 
Ninth Corps could follow up so as to join or co-oi)erate 
with the balance of the army. To prepare for this, 
the Ninth Corps will have rations i.ssaed to them same 
as the balance of the army. General Weitzel will 
keep vigilant watch upon his front, and if found at 
all practicable to break through at any point, he will 
do so. A success north of the James should be fol- 
lowed up with great promptness. An attack will not 
be feasible unless it is found that the enemy has de- 
tached largely. In that case it may be regarded iis 
evident that the enemy are relying on their local re- 
sorves principally for the defence of Riohinnnd. Pre- 
parations may be made for aband(ming all the line 
north of the James, except inclosed works — only to 
be abandoned, however, after a break is made in the 
lines of the enemy. 

By these instructions a large part of the armies 
operating against Richmond is left behind. The 
enemy knowing this may, as an only chance, strip 
1 heir lines to the merest skeleton, in the hope of ad- 
vantage not being taken of it, whilst they hurl every- 
thing against the moving column and return. It 
lunnot be impressed too strongly upon commanders 
of troops lelt in the trenches, not to allow this to oc- 
cur without taking advantage of it. The very fact 
of the enemy coming out to attack, if he does so, 
might be regarded as almost conclusive e\-idenre of 
such a weakening of his lines, I would have it par- 
ticularly enjoined on corjw commanders, tlinf in ca*e 
of an attack from the enemy, those not attacked are 
not to wait {(ft orders from the commanding orticcr 
of the army to which they belong, but that they will 
move promptly and notify the commander of their 
action. I would also enjoin the same action on the 
part of division commanders when other part* of 
their corps are not engaged. In like manner I would 
urge the importance of following up a rcpuls*.- of the 

enemy. 

U. 8, Qmant, Lieutcnaot-Oeneral. 

Hajor-GenexaU IIzaok, Obd, and Sbsiuj>^:«. 



THE HOK SOHUTLEE COLFAX 



ScHtTTLEB Colfax, the popular candidate 
of the National Union Republican party for 
the office of Vice-President, is a native of 
New York City. He was born in North 
Moore-st., March 23, 1823, his father having 
died but a short time previous. With but 
limited means, his widowed mother could af- 
ford to keep him at school but a short time, 
and at the age of ten he was placed in a mer- 
cantile establishment, where he remained for 
three years, contributing materially from his 
small salary to the support of both himself 
and mother. In 1836, he and his mother, in 
company with others, left their home in this 
city and settled in St. Joseph county, Indiana. 
Some years after his arrival in the West, he 
was appointed Deputy County Auditor for St. 
Joseph county, and employed his leisure hours 
in the study of State law, in which he is said 
soon to have become an acknowledged ex- 
pounder, He read law pietty thoroughly 
during these leisure hours, but not with a 
view to adopting it as a profession. He had 
but little idea of what great benefit the infor- 
mation he was then gaining would prove to 
him in after years. In 1845 he started a 
weekly journal at South Bend, the county 
seat of St. Joseph county, called The St. Jo- 
»eph Valley Register, becoming its sole propri- 
etor and editor. A writer in The Indianapo- 
lis Journal corrects a mistake into which the 
public has fallen relative to Mr. Colfax's con- 
nection with the printing business. Mr. Lau- 
man, in his Dictionary of Congress, says : 
" He was bred a printer." He never was ap- 
prenticed to the printing business, and knew 
nothing of the practical part of the art " pre- 
servative of all arts " until after he had com- 
menced the publication of The E^pster. With 
his ready tact and quick perception, however, 

nd great anxiety to economize, for his means 

e yet very limited, he soon mastered the 

*ficiently to " help out of the drag," but 



he never attained to any great proficiency in 
the business, his editorial labors, the business 
of the office and other duties soon claiming 
his entire attention. The Jiegister prospered, 
and soon became a source of profit to its pro- 
prietor. It was ably edited, and was a model 
of courtesy and dignity. Every parajr.ph, 
however small, seemed to have passed r.r;der 
the supervision of and to reflect the rrjc.l and 
elevate the thoughts of its editor. He con- 
tinued his connection with this paprr until 
three or four years ago, writing a regular 
weekly letter for its columns during his first 
two terms in Congress. It was during the 
early days of The Jiegister that Mr. Colfax 
was laying the foundation of the reputation he 
lias since attained as a debater. A debating 
club was formed, which held regular weekly 
meetings during the winter season, and it was 
a rare occurrence indeed to find Mr. Colfax 
absent fiom one of these stated gatherings. 

Politics, the temperance reform, and other 
subjects were olten as ably debated in this so- 
ciety as Lindred questions are in many delib- 
erate bodies of much greater pretensions of 
the present day. The Hon. John D. Defrees, 
now Superintendent of Government Printing, 
and for many years editor and ))roprietor of 
The Indianapolis Journal, to which Mr. Colfax 
was also attache<l as Senate Reporter for some 
time after he commenced the publication of 
The Eegister, was also a participant in these 
debates. They were both Whigs, both ardent 
and sincere a<lvocates of and believers in the 
temperance reform, and were consequently 
seldom pitted against each other in these de- 
bates. The attachment formed at this early 
day between those gentlemen still continues 
with unabated feivor. In 1848, Mr. Colfax 
was chosen as a delegate, and elected as Sec- 
retaiy of the Convention which nom nated 
General Taylor for the Presidency. In 1850 
he represented St. Joseph county in the Con- 



APPENDIX. 



97 



vention which fi-ameil the present Constitution 
of Indiana. In this Convention he opposed, 
with all his ability, the adoption of the clause 
prohibiting free colored men from settling in 
the State. His opposition to this measure 
was the cause of his defeat the following year 
when nominated for Congress, in opposition 
to Dr. Fitch. But, with all the ability, tact, 
and shrewdness of this old political wire-work- 
er, he only distanced his young competitor 
200 votes, in a district which had been strong- 
ly democratic for years. In 1852 he was 
again a delegate to the Whig National Conven- 
tion. He took an active part in the campaign 
which followed, speaking often and writing 
much. In 1854, when the " great deep " of 
Indiana Democracy was broken up, and the 
old Hunkers laid in a grave from which it is 
hoped they may never be resurrected, he was 
renominated and elected to Congress, and was 
consequently more active than ever before. 
His experience as a debater, and familiarity 
with State and National politics, rendered him 
an overmatch for his opponents, whom he was 
always anxious to meet in an open and fair 
discussion before the people, where he was 
always certain of a victory. 

In 1856 he was again nominated for Con- 
gress, and re-elected by a handsome majority. 
His entrance into Congress was in the midst 
of the great struggle over the Lecompton 
swindle. A writer says of his maiden speech 
in the House : " His first speech in Congress 
went forth to repel the tide of terror which 
was sweeping over struggling Kansas, and 
clearly showed that even then he was one of 
the best debaters in the Lower House." 
Over 500,000 copies of this speech were printed 
and circulated — a compliment perhaps never 
before received by any member of Congress. 
He was first chosen Speaker of the XXXVII Ith 
Congress by a vote of 101 to 81. He has 
been thrice elected to the same position, each 
time by an increased majority. He was ap- 
pointed Chairman of the Committee on Post- 
OfRces and Post-Roads on the organization 
of the XXXV Ilth Congress, and did much to 
extend mail facilities throughout the West. 
He was one of the fii-st advocates, and is still 
one of the warmest friends of the Pacific Rail- 
road. Indeed, he takes a warm interest in 
any movement looking to the development of 
the boundless resources of the great West. 
It was, doubtless, the interest he feels in this 
section of the cuunirj' which induced him to 



take his celebrated trip " Across" the Conti- 
nent." His trip was a perilous on», but his 
welcome at " the other end of the line" was 
so spontaneous, truly genuine, and heartfelt 
that it more than repaid him for all the dan- 
gers and hardships he passed through. This 
trip prepared him for one of the most enter- 
taining lectures ever delivered in this country. 
It has been listened to with wrapt attention 
by the people of almost every city in ihe^ 
North. Pecuniarily, however, it has profited 
him but little, for with that liberality which 
has ever been a marked trait in bis character, 
the entire proceeds of a lecture have as uUen 
been donated to some charitable object as 
they have found their way into his own pock- 
et. He has now served in succession 14 years 
in the House. He was urged but he declined 
to accept a seat in the United Stales Senate, 
preferring his presiding chair in the House. 

As a presiding officer he is the most popu- 
lar the House has had since Henry Clay. A 
writer in "Putnam's Magazine" truly ob- 
serves that Mr. Colfax " has no eccentricities, 
but great tact. His talents are administrative 
and executive, rather than deliberative. He 
would make good appointments, and adopt 
sure policies. He would make a better Pres- 
ident, or Speaker of the House, than Senator. 
He knows men well, estimates them correctly, 
treats them all fairly and candidly. No man 
will get through his business with you in few- 
er minutes, and yet none is more free from 
the horrid brusqueness of busy men. There 
are heart and kindness in Mr. Colfax's polite- 
ness. Men leave his presence with the im- 
pression that he is at once an able, honest, 
and kind man. Political opponents like him 
personally, as well as his political friends. 
We have never heard that he has any enemies. 
The breath of slander has been silent toward 
his fair, spotless fame. The wife of his youth, 
after being for a long time an invalid, sank to 
her final rest several years ago, leaving him 
childless. His mother and sister preside at 
his receptions, which for many years have 
been, not the most brilliant, but the most pop- 
ular of any given at the capital. Socially, 
Mr. Colfax is frank, lively, jolly. It may be 
that he feels his oats in sonip dejiree, but 
dignity hasn't spoiled him. The everlasting 
I-hood and Us-ness of great men is fi)rgollen 
in his presence. His manners are not quite 
so faniilliar as those of Lincoln, but n^^arly so. 
They are gentle, natural, graceful, with a bird- 



APPENDIX. 



like or business -like quickness of tlionght and 
motion. But they are very far from the higii 
and mighty style of Sumner, or the judicial 
coldness of Fessenden, Slierman, and Trum- 
bull. Tliougli manly, they are gen al and 
winning. American mothers believe in Schuy- 
ler Colfax. There are more babies named for 
him than for any public man since Clay." 

The intimacy and confidential relations of 
Mr. Colfax with Mr. Lincoln are well known. 
Tliey labored hand-in-haud as brothers in the 
cause of the Union, holding frequent and pro- 
tracted interviews on all subjects looking to 
the overthrow of the rebellion, for there were 
no divisions between the executive and legis- 
lative branches of the government then as 
there are now. During the darkest hours of 
that bloody drama which shall ever remain 
a reproach upon the people of one section 
of the nation, they were ever cheerful and 
hopeful. Confident in the justness of the 
war waged for the preservation of the 
Union, and placing a Christian reliance in 
that Providence which guides and shapes the 
destiny of nations, great reverses, which 
caused others to fear and tremble, at times, 
almost to despair, seemed only to inspire 
them with greater zeal and a firmer belief in 
the ultimate triumph of our cause. 

Mr. Colfax is rather under the medium 
height, with a form firmly and comiiactly 
moulded. His hair is brown, now slightly 
sprinkled with grey ; eyes blue ; forehead 
high and arching, indicating great perceptive 
faculties, and deep veneration. His face is 
open and frank, and as yet unmarked by age. 
He possesses great vitality, and can endure 
an extraordinary amountof labor with little but 
fatigue. This, coupled with his temperate 
habits, has caused him to wear his age so 
well that but few persons wou d jilace him 
even at forty. He is yet in the prime and 
vigor of manhood, with all his cai es and re- 
sponsibilities, as buoyant as most people are 
at thirty. 

For the foregoing sketch of the Republi- 
can candidate for the office of Vice-President 
of the United States, as well as for tlie fol- 
lowing remarks, we are indebted to the New 
York Tribune of May 22d : 
_ " Schuyler Colfas is a native of this city, 



now 45 years old. His mother, early widowed, 
married again, and removed to Northern In- 
diana; where Schuyler, after his sciiool-days, 
first became a clerk in a store, but. before he 
had attained his majority, developed a taste 
and appitude for journalism. He esiablislied 
or purchased the St. Josei)h Valley Register 
at South Bend, and soon made it a power in 
the land. He was a canvasser quite as soon 
as he was of age, and bore an effective part 
in the Clay cimpaign of 1844. As his coun- 
ty (St. Joseph) nevei- failed to stand by him, 
he was chosen in 1850 a member of the Con- 
vention which framed the j)reseut Constitution 
of Indiana, and bore a prominent pu t there- 
in, though still young and in' a political mi- 
nority. ' ' ■ 

In 1851, he was first a candidate for Con- 
gress, and beaten 238 votes, in a poll of 18,- 
474, by G. N. Fitch, his Democratic compet- 
itor. In 1854, he was ag 'in nominated, and 
was now triumphantly elected ; as he has 
beien at each subsecjuent election for Repre- 
.sentative in Congress down to this hour. The 
ablest and most effective Democratic canvass- 
ers in the District have been succe.ssively 
piited against him, often with high hopes of 
success, always doomed to be blasted. Here 
is the aggregate vote on either side at each 
election : 

1851. .Colfax 9,118 Fitch 9,336 

1854..Collax a,y89 Eddy 8,223 

1856. . Coltax 12,'J2G Stuart ll.saO 

18.53.. Col lax 14,J41 Walkw 12,U10 

18C0.. Colfax ...16,800 Catlieart 13,4.58 

18<i2..Col}aX........ 14,775 Turpie U,546 

1804.. Colfax 10,058 Turpie 14,978 

18liti..Collax 20,221 Turijie 18,073 

Thus we see that our candidate for Vice- 
Pi esident has proved as invincible in the arena 
of intellectual struggle for Liberty and Loy- 
alty as our more illustrious candidate for Pres- 
ident amid the stern alarums of war. 

Messrs. Grant and Colfax are both in the 
prime of their manly vigor, and in the fullest 
maturity of their powers. That our too long 
distracted country is destined, under their 
auspices, to acliieve a speedy and complete 
restoration of its former prospeiily, and more 
than its former fraternity, we will not cherish 
a doubU 



THE REPUBLICAN PLATF0E:\L 



'The National Republican Party of tlie United 
States, assembled in National Convention 
in the City of Chicago, on the 21st day of 
May, 1868, make the following Declaration 
of Princii)ies : 
f I. We congratulate the country on the as- 
sured success of the reconstruction policy of 
Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the 
majority of the States lately in rebellion, of 
Constitutions seciH-ing equal civil rights and 
political rights to all, and it is the duty of the 
Government to sustain those institutions and 
prevent the people of such States from being 
remitted to a state of anarchy. 

II. The guaranty by Congress of equal 
Suffrage to all loyal men at the South was 
demanded by every consideration of public 
safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must 
be maintained ; while the question of Suffrage 
in all the loyal States properly belongs to the 
people of those Slates. 

III. We denounce all forms of Repudiation 
as a national crime ; and the national honor 
requires the payment of the public indebted- 
ness in the uttermost good faith to all credit- 
ors at home and abroad, not only according 
to the letter but the spirit of the laws under 
which it was contracted. 

IV. It is due to the Labor of the Nation 
that taxation should be equalized, and re- 
duced as rapidly as the national faith will 
permit. 

T. The National D^bt, contracted, as it has 
been, for the preservation of the Union for all 
time to come, should be extended over a fair 
period for redemption ; and it is the duty of 
Congress to reduce the rate of interest there- 
on, whenever it can be honestly done. 
'- VI. That the best policy to diminish our 

■ burden of debt is to so improve our credit 
that capitalists will seek to loan us money at 
lower rates of interest than we now pay, and 
must continue to pay so long as repudiation, 
99 



partial or total, open or covert, is threatened 
or suspected. 

VII. The Government of the United Slates 
should be admimisiered with the striclest econ- 
omy ; and the corruptions which have been so 
shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew 
Johnson call loudly for radical reform. 

VIII. We profoundly deplore the untimely 
and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and re- 
gret the accession to the Presidency of An- 
drew Johnson, who has acted treacherously 
to the people who elected him ami the cauae 
he was pledged to support; who has usurped 
high legislative and judicial functions ; who 
has refused to execute the laws ; who has 
used his high office to induce other officers to 
ignore and violate the laws ; who has em- 
j)loyed his executive powers to render inse- 
cure the property, the peace, liberty and life, 
of the citizen; who has abused the panloning 
power; who has denounced the National Leg- 
islature as unconstitutional; who has persists 
ently and corruptly resisted, by every means 
in his power, every proper attempt at the re- 
construction of the States lately in rebellion ; 
who has perverted the public patronage into 
an engine of wholesale corruption ; ami who 
has been justly impeached for high crimes and 
misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty 
thereof by the vote of thirty-five Senators. 

IX. The doctrine of Great Briuin and oth- 
er European powers that, because a man is 
once a subject he is always so, must be resist- 
ed at every hazard by the United Sia'es, as a 
relic of feudal times, not authorized by the 
laws of nations, and at war with our nAiional 
honor and indejiendence. Naturalized citi- 
zens are entitled to protection in all their 
rights of citizenship, as thouiih they were na- 
tive born ; and no citizen of the United Stales, 
native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest 
and imprisoiunent by any foreisn power for 
acts done or words spoken in this country ; 



100 



APPENDIX. 



and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the 
duty of the Government to interfere in hia be- 
half. 

X. Of all who were faithful in the trials 
of the late war, there were none entitled to 
more especial honor than the brave soldiers 
and seamen who endured the hardships of 
campaign and cruise, and imperiled their lives 
in the service of the country ; the bounties 
and pensions provided by the laws for these 
brave defenders of the nation, are obligations 
never to be forgotten ; the widows and or- 
phans of the gallant dead are the wards of the 
people — a sacred legacy bequeathed to the 
nation's protecting care. 

IX. Foreign immigration, which in the past 
has added so much to the wealth, development 
and resources and increase of power to this 
republic, and the asylum of the oppressed of 
all nations, should be fostered and encouraged 
by a liberal and just policy. 

XI r. This Convention declares itself in sym- 
pathy with all oppressed people struggling for 
their rights. 



Unanimously added on motion of General 
ScHURZ : 

Hesolved, That we highly commend the 
spirit of magnanimity and forbearance with 
which men who have served in the Rebellion, 
but who now frankly and honestly co-operate 
with us in restoiing the peace of the country, 
and reconstructing the Southern Slate gov- 
ernments upon the basis of Impartial Justice 
and Equal Rights, are received back into the 
communion of the loyal people ; and we favor 
the removal of the disqualifications and restric- 
tions imposed upon the late rebels in the 
same measure as their spirit of loyalty will di- 
rect, and as maybe consistent with the safety 
of the loyal people. 

Resolved, That we recognize the great princi- 
ples laid down in the immortal Declaration of 
Independence, as the true foundation of demo- 
cratic government ; and we hail with glad- 
ness every effort towards making these princi- 
ples a living reality on every inch of Ameri- 
can soil. 



O 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



i 



/ 



I! 



y fp 






'^LjS*-' 



'%• 



X 



LIBRARY OF CONOKbbt. 



003 042 276 4( 



-I 



^i^^>a: 



S^v« 



c^ii-^ 



■■^iisao 






.^3E^ 




^-">» 



,§> 



■CSZ-r-j 


















ijiVi-*'- 




